The Cooper Libido Experiment
by gwendy
Summary: There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science... Sheldon/Penny, with secondary characters Leslie Winkle and Ramona Nowitzki
1. Chapter 1

Title: "The Cooper Libido Experiment"  
Author: g_girl143 / gwendy Rating: G Chapters: 1)  
Timeline: Post L/P...beyond Post L/P.  
Summary: There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science.  
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
A/N: The title should give you enough hints. I've written an outline and it's eight chapters in all, though I'm still not sure exactly how this will fare in the end, because again, I'm struggling on whether to make this AU or episode-like (my forte). I'll try to see how this goes.  
Oh, totally unbeta'd so forgive my errors.

Chapter 1

She had been watching him for the longest time, observing him from afar, with his tall, lanky frame, the forearms which would show from time to time when he reached up to write something on the board, and it was all so sexy. His blue eyes were luminous, and intense whenever he poured upon one equation to the other. His lips moved in the rhythm with his vast vocabulary, almost dancing on the words and hypnotizing her. She loved the way he talked, loved the confidence in his strides, the way he held himself high, just as he should. He was a man of superior intellect, a man blessed with the knowledge of the world...

A man she could never have.

Day after day, she watched him, wishing she had the courage to approach him and confess her feelings, but memories of heartache proved to be a tangible obstacle, and so she was left with simply watching.

Watching. And waiting. Knowing full well he would never look at her the way a man should look at a woman.

For that matter, he never even looked at another human being as such.

To her, he was a god; meant to be worshipped, never meant to be tamed. But oh, it was torment, to be so close to him everyday, but held back by the past. And as days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, she knew she had to find some way to end her agony.

She had to have him.

By hook or by crook, she had to have him.

With determination lodged in her spine, she pulled off the ad she had been staring at off the bulletin board and hurried into one of the offices, slamming the door to catch the occupant's attention. Sure enough, a head of brunette curls lifted from behind the computer monitor, the face frowning at the disturbance.

"Ms. Nowitzki. To what do I owe the honor?"

Ramona Nowitzki ignored the obvious disdain in Dr. Leslie Winkle's voice. "Dr. Winkle, it's about the ad you put up."

Leslie gave a fleeting glance at the paper in Ramona's hand. "Read it again, Ms. Nowitzki. I specifically requested a male for the experiment."

"And that's why I'm here. I know the perfect guinea pig for it." Ramona couldn't stop herself from licking her lips. "Dr. Sheldon Cooper."

The bored look on Leslie's face was replaced by what could pass for shock. "Dr. Cooper? You want me to make Dr. Dumb-ass Cooper the subject for my libido enhancer experiment?"

Ramona nodded vigorously, her lips stretching into a wide smile. She had to grit her teeth with Leslie's foul tongue, but she knew she had to stay on THIS doctor's good side. "Yes. He would be the perfect candidate to test the effectivity of your serum. He has thus far, shown no interest in the opposite sex. With him as your subject, you would be able to garner more accurate results, don't you think?"

Ramona watched Dr. Winkle's lips twist. She was reconsidering, Ramona thought with glee.

"And Ms. Nowitzki, how do you suppose I get Dr. Dumb-ass to agree?"

"That's where I come in." Ramona took a deep breath to calm herself. She was going to have to get used to Dr. Winkle's besmirching the man of her dreams if she were to make her dreams come true. "He doesn't necessarily have to know. I believe it's always best to observe a subject in the most natural setting. I can find a way to get the serum in him. The one you're working on can be ingested, right? I can even help you monitor the results."

"Help me monitor?" Leslie squinted before a flicker of understanding sparked in her eyes. "I see what's going on here. You want Dr. Dumb-ass to engage in coitus with you."

"Oh, more than anything!" Ramona squealed, but at the look on Dr. Winkle's face, she calmed herself. "I mean, if the experiment results into that, then I wouldn't be opposed to it."

Leslie nodded, her thumb and forefinger stroking her chin. "You do realize, Ms. Nowitzki, that even if this is Dumb-ass Cooper we're talking about, subjecting him unknowingly to an experiment would not only be unethical, but unlawful as well?"

"My lips shall be forever sealed on this matter." Ramona dragged her thumb and forefinger across her lips, as though closing a zipper. "And on the off chance that someone finds out, I give your my word I will never implicate you."

Leslie began pacing in front of her desk. "Now, let's say the experiment is a success and you achieve coitus with him. What if someone, oh say, a physicist who happens to be Dr. Dumb-ass's arch enemy leaks the scandal to the university authorities. Would you be a willing participant to discrediting him and having him kicked out of the university without the possibility of ever getting another decent job?"

Ramona barely blinked. "But I get to have sex with him, right?"

"A good enough answer." Leslie smiled and held out her hand to Ramona. "You're on."

A/N: Hope I got you guys sufficiently intrigued ^_^ I think this fic might be taking over me a little. I just recently finished three (supposed) one shots, so kindly check The Chemistry of Schrodinger's Cat, Fighting Change and The Hofstader Nocturnal Inference.  
This is pretty much the first fic I have in which a chapter does NOT have Sheldon and Penny specifically in it. 


	2. Chapter 2

Title: "The Cooper Libido Experiment"  
Author: g_girl143 / gwendy Rating: PG Chapters: 2)  
Timeline: Post L/P...beyond Post L/P.  
Summary: There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science.  
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
A/N: Guys, please make sure to check out Chapter 1. I edited it, especially Leslie and Ramona's last conversation. I wanted to imply more on Ramona's EVUHL-ness ;) Thank you especially to [info]renisanz , for pointing me to the right direction. I think I got the "unethical-ness" of chapter 1 outta the way...for now ;). Now, let's proceed with the fic ;) I think there might be more chapters than the original eight, so I left it at a question mark. Again, un-beta'd so forgive the errors.

Chapter 2

Sheldon Cooper sat alone in the cafeteria, meticulously slicing his sandwich into another equal, bite-sized part. The temperature in the perimeter was tolerable, the flow of conversations as constant as it had been since he began working in Caltech eight years ago, and the environ as clean as it would ever be (sadly enough, he thought). Yup, just another normal day for Dr. Sheldon Cooper, if not for his eating in solitude. Leonard had to engage in nocturnal rituals to use the university's lasers for one of his already tried and tested experiments. Penny had been driving him to work since then, and perhaps through Leonard's urging, she had been less a pain about it.

"Dr. Cooper, I don't believe that sandwich would be sufficient to provide you with the necessary nourishment your great mind needs."

Sheldon nearly choked. He knew that voice, and when he looked, he saw Ramona Nowitzki, beaming a smile that reminded him too much of Harley Quinn.

Or Poison Ivy.

"Hello, Ramona," he greeted as disinterestedly as possible and turned back to his sandwich. If she thinks he was going to let her run his life again, she was sadly mistaken. Dr. Sheldon Cooper does not make the same mistake twice...well okay, he almost did with that other grad student who's name he could not even remember, but Leonard had stopped it in time, so that didn't count.

"Dr. Cooper, I actually came here to apologize for the way I acted to you two years ago. I had no right to run your life and deprive you of activities you obviously take pleasure in."

Sheldon's head shot up, his brows meeting in thought. "Fascinating. It only took you seven hundred and thirty days, give or take, to realize the error of your ways and muster the courage to apologize to me."

Ramona was clearly flabbergasted at his use of sarcasm, and Sheldon felt so proud, he felt like giving himself a pat on the back, if that were possible without appearing like an imbecile. With a smirk, he turned back to his sandwich.

After a moment, Ramona sat next to him. He let out an inward growl. So much for using sarcasm to deter people.

"Dr. Cooper, I really do apologize, moreso that it took me so long. This is for you. Think of it as an apology gift."

Sheldon wouldn't have bothered to look but Ramona had pushed the clear plastic take-out tray into his line of vision. In it, he saw what appeared to be the most delectably prepared peach cobbler he'd ever seen...well, next to his mother's of course, and he felt himself begin to salivate.

"I seem to recall you prefer peach cobbler above all other pastries," Ramona explained. "The amount of carbohydrates, sucrose, fructose and glucose in it will provide you with lasting energy, not to mention the nutritional value one can always acquire from fruits like peaches. And don't worry. It's a take out from La Marea, which as I remember, is among your list of acceptable pastry shops. Still, I made sure gloves were worn by everyone involved."

Sheldon's lower lip twitched, as did the eye closest to the cobbler. "I suppose I can have one bite."

One bite turned out to be the entire tray. The cobbler was almost at par with his mother's, and as he finished the last morsel, he began mulling over the idea of having Penny stop by La Marea's for take out before they went home.

"Well?" Ramona asked, her voice excited, her smile even wider. "How are you feeling now?"

"Sufficiently full and satiated. Thank you for the dessert, Ramona." Sheldon tried to sound as polite as possible. It may have come out forced, but only because he was behind schedule. He was three minutes late from the trek back to his office. His whiteboard was demanding equations. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"Wait!" He felt Ramona's hands wrap around his wrist, and he froze. "Dr. Cooper...aren't you feeling...you know...something else? Like...what do you feel when you look at me now?"

He blinked and stared at her. Really stared at her, and Ramona felt a blush rise up to her neck and cheeks. His eyes were as blue as summer, and studying her with the same intensity he did with his mathematical equations.

Goodness gracious, how that turned her on.

Then, he pulled his arm away. "If you wish to know, Ramona, I'm feeling rather violated as of the moment. You have invaded my personal space and I don't know where your hands have been. Now, please excuse me. I have some scientific mysteries to fence with."

Ramona stared after Dr. Cooper, her jaw dropping as he produced a hand sanitizer from his pocket before rubbing it vigorously on his wrist. When he disappeared from her sights, she turned around and stomped towards one of the tables, where Dr. Winkle sat, observing.

"It didn't work," Ramona practically shrieked, earning her a few "shushes" and glares. "You assured me it'll work in five minutes tops. I mean, did you see what he did? He thinks I have H1N1 or something."

Dr. Winkle sipped on her coffee and gave Ramona a bored look. "That's why they call this an experiment, Ms. Nowtizki. The first try almost always fails."

**

Sheldon waited by his parking space, his eyes constantly falling back to his watch. Penny was two minutes behind schedule, and he was debating on giving her a strike for tardiness when her red car came into view. He saw her wave, and he made it a point not to wave back.

"Sorry I'm late, sweetie," Penny said when she opened the door for him. She seemed happy, which only seemed to annoy him. "You wouldn't believe how many customers we got today. And guess what? They're big tippers! Talk abou--"

"Penny, do you expect me to enjoy your endless diatrabe about your mediocre adventures at work when you arrived two minutes past the alloted hour?" He'd made himself sound as strict as possible, but Penny only smiled as she drove the car out of the lot. How he could never get her to knuckle under him was a scientific mystery in itself...and it frustrated the hell out of him.

"I'm happy to see you too, Sheldon," Penny said, and before Sheldon could point out a detection of sarcasm in her voice, she giggled. "And is that a marker in your pocket or are you happy to see me too?"

Sheldon gave a snort of derision and rolled his eyes. "Happy is not an emotion I am feeling as of the moment. I thought I already emphasized that when you arrived at a less than punctual time. And no, I do not have a marker in my pocket. One could always run the risk of having permanent ink leaked and goodness knows, they're impossible to get rid of without ruining the fabric."

"Oh."

Sheldon blinked and looked at Penny. She had turned her eyes back on the road, but he caught the way her face turned scarlet. "Penny, there seems to be an increase of blood circulation in your cheeks. Are you feeling ill?" He cringed. "Driving while not at optimal health can cause acci...wait, you're not taking Euclid Avenue?"

"I'd rather there be no bumps along the way," Penny muttered. Well, Sheldon certainly wasn't going to complain about that.

Then, he frowned. "Penny, might I ask why you came to the conclusion that I am carrying a marker in my pocket?"

Penny didn't look at him. "Sheldon, if you don't want me to turn this car around and drive through Euclid, then shut up."

Sheldon and Penny spent the rest of the ride home in silence.

**

Leonard yawned as he stirred his cup of coffee. His rituals had switched from waking up to the sunrise and watching Dr. Who, to waking up to the stars and watching the evening news. He didn't like the nocturnal hours, never mind he got paid extra for it and that he could work on his experiments, but weeks into his nightly project had kept him away from his friends. Well, it did keep him away from Sheldon, which was a plus, but still...

The door opened, and in came his roommate. Speak of the devil, Leonard thought.

"Hello, Leonard."

"Good morning, Sheldon."

Leonard sensed Sheldon pause, and it was a little while before he realized he'd made a mistake. He braced himself for a lecture.

"Leonard, it's six fifteen in the evening. The skies have grown dark and the evening news is on. How could you think it's morning? Clearly, your nocturnal hours have turned your perception topsy turvy."

"Gee...you think?" Leonard muttered before taking a gulp of coffee. He relaxed and turned around to look at Sheldon, who was narrowing his eyes in concentration.

"That was sarcasm, wasn't it?"

Leonard grinned and was about to say something when his eyes fell on Sheldon's trousers. "Is that a marker in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

If Sheldon's face hadn't been scrunched up in confusion then, it certainly was now. "Honestly. This is the second time anyone's ever asked that today. No, I do not have a marker in my pocket, and you of all people know why I do not ever carry one."

"But then..." Leonard wasn't able to continue. He was growing confused himself.

"Then what, Leonard?"

Leonard couldn't say a word. He could only point. And when Sheldon looked down, he let out the loudest "Oh dear God" Leonard had ever heard.

Sheldon Cooper had one helluva boner.

A/N: If you're wondering what La Marea is, it's my favorite pastry shop in my country. Just decided to add that in for identity purposes ^_^ And yes, they do have cobbler there. Apple, as far as I'm aware of. I'll see if they have peach next time I drop by. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"  
**Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Chapters:** 3/?  
**Timeline: **Post L/P...beyond Post L/P.  
**Summary: **There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
**A/N: **Sorry for the late post guys. I actually finished this chapter a while back, but I didn't want this fanfic post to clash with the S/P Scavenger Hunt post, so I opted to wait a bit...

Students filed out of the room just as the clock struck three. It was one of the rare occasions when Dr. Sheldon Cooper gave out a lecture to students, and Ramona could only remember too well, the one he had given two years before. That had been her first real look at him, though prior to seeing him in the flesh, she had stored hundreds of his pictures in her computer hard drive.

Around three or four grad students had run out earlier to vomit. Dr. Cooper's persona as an advocate of truth had never been as intensified as when he spoke of how the next generation were sadly being mislead by lesser minds into believing they would ever contribute something significant into the world of physics. True greatness could only be achieved by great minds such as his own, and she'd like to think hers was almost as par with his...what with her cleverness in having a double dose of Dr. Winkle's serum infused in the brownies she was carrying.

She waited for the rest of the student body to move out before approaching his desk. He seemed a little distracted, and she took it as a good sign.

"Hello, Dr. Cooper," Ramona greeted as sweetly as possible. He only grunted and continued to put away his books. "You seem to be under stress."

He still didn't look up from stacking his books. "Whatever gave you the idea?"

"If the tension in your shoulders, the proliferation of sweat on your forehead and your erratic breathing do not signal high levels of stress, then I believe the violent passion in which you relayed the insignificance of our minds is notable."

He paused for a moment to look at her. His eyes were still the same summer blue she so loved, but there were dark circles beneath them. He obviously hadn't been sleeping, and if Ramona could smile any wider, the corners of her lips would've reached her ears.

With a suggestive wink, she held out the box in her hands. "You know...sweets, specifically chocolate can actually help relieve stress..."

Ramona later found herself barging in to Dr. Leslie Winkle's office.

"It still didn't work," she shrieked, waving an empty box in the air. "He ate everything to the last morsel and he didn't even bat an eye when I invited him to my place. Not surprisingly, he declined."

"Huh." Dr. Winkle's brows met. "Perhaps you had not implied your suggestion bluntly enough. Dr. Dumb-ass is not the type who can understand subtlety."

"Subtle?" Ramona felt her neck muscles strain. "I invited him to come to my apartment so we can get to know each other in a more intimate setting. Those were my exact words, and with that double dose of your serum, you'd think he could've at least not pulled away from me when I touched his arm...but he did. And used that god-awful sanitizer again!"

"Interesting." Leslie nodded and turned to her computer, typing in the results. "Very interesting indeed..."

**

Penny drove slowly towards Sheldon's parking space, growling when she saw him standing there with his eyes on his wristwatch. She was fifteen minutes behind his precious little schedule but she could care less. Some part of her even waited in anticipation for his inevitable lecture on punctuality. She so needed someone to vent her anger on, and Dr. Cooper, in most cases, fitted the bill.

"Alright, let's have it," she challenged after she had opened the door for him. "Come on, Dr. Whackadoodle. Hit me with your best shot."

Sheldon stared at her from beneath furrowed brows as he slipped in the passenger's seat and buckled his seatbelt. "I'm sorry, but I'm a little confused by your outburst, particularly in the hints of sarcasm, yet you seem to be giving me an actual command. Are you asking me to physically hit you? Because although we have fought on numerous ocassions, I should think I've already established myself as the type who never resorts to physical violence with women."

Penny's brows rose. "What? No 'Penny, how could you be so blind to not notice the time'? No 'this just proves why your intellect is only at elementary' or 'Penny, you are so evil to ruin my plans'?"

Sheldon only blinked at her, and she cursed under her breath as she pulled the car out of the lot. So much for someone to vent on.

"Penny, are you under stress?"

"Whatever gave you the idea?" She honked her horn when a car cut in front of her. "Who do you think you are, asshole, king of the road?"

"That," Sheldon said, and Penny gave him the deadliest glare she could muster. Oddly enough, he didn't turn away like he usually did. If anything, his gaze grew more intense.

When had Sheldon Cooper's eyes become so blue?

"Red light! Red light!"

Penny snapped her head forward, shrieking when she saw the cars streaming from the intersection. She managed to step on the breaks, jolting her and Sheldon's bodies when the car halted.

For several moments, all she did was grip the steering wheel, her eyes still on the endless queue of fast cars.

Then, she pressed her forehead against the wheel and began counting the seconds before Sheldon's degrading lecture.

Three...two...one...

"There, there."

The shock of his hand patting her shoulder sent her looking at him with wide eyes. He was a little pale, but other than that, he was...calm.

And he still had his hand on her shoulder. Rubbing it.

"Penny, you are obviously under a lot of stress and it has affected your motor functions. It will not do good for you to drive under such conditions."

Penny narrowed her eyes and pulled her shoulder away from his roaming hand. Not that she didn't need some physical comfort, but the way his fingers had moved on her shoulder blade made her...too comfortable. "So, what do you propose, genius? I thought Homo Novuses don't drive."

"The plural form is homo novi, not novuses," Sheldon corrected, but not with his usual condescension. He seemed...genuinely patient, and this made Penny squirm in her seat. "I propose that we stop by La Marea."

"The pastry shop?"

"That is correct. We are after all within close proximity to it. We could have some warm brownie cup."

"I don't have any money on me," Penny grumbled, more to brush off the offer than anything else. Sheldon's behavior was beginning to unnerve her.

"Would it help if I said I would be paying?"

Okay. Now she was officially unnerved. "Why would you want to treat me to a warm brownie cup?"

"I could state a number of reasons. I can't very well have you drive us home, since in your current mental state, the chances of our encountering a traffic accident is raised exponentially. And as was proven to me earlier by Ramona, sweets, specifically chocolate, can help alleviate stress."

Ramona...Ramona...why did that name sound familiar? Then, it clicked. "Ramona, that stalker grad student?"

"Yes. She came over to give me a box of brownies and...green light! Green light!"

Penny's foot hit the accelerator, and almost without her knowing it, she had driven to the parking space of La Marea's.

**

Penny practically purred when the ice cream, chocolate bits and the soft, warm brownie caressed her tongue. She and Sheldon were seated by the window, Sheldon nibbling at his peach cobbler with gusto. He was saying something scientific about peaches, and later, talked about the history of cobbler but she had learned through the years how to tune him out until all she heard was his drone. She'd always found it strange how her drone soothed her...like music.

She grinned and nodded accordingly when Sheldon waited for her reaction. Yup, you know you lived long enough across a Dr. Sheldon Cooper to compare his boring lecture to music.

"So how was your day, Penny?"

The head of Penny's spoon lay stuck between her lips as her brows met to give her neighbor a suspicious look. He seemed serious, but then, when had he been anything but serious?

With a smack of the lips, she put her spoon down, ignoring how Sheldon's eyes seemed to have been fixated on her mouth those last few moments. "Sheldon, sweetie, you don't have to make small talk. Frankly, you're not good at it. Just go and talk about your day. I don't mind."

"But I already have. The essence of communication is an exchange of information. I have relayed to you much about my day and other things, and it's your turn to reciprocate by doing the same, otherwise this conversation will not move forward as it should."

God, she didn't have to hear that, and she thought she should've just answered his question immediately...then again, she wouldn't have heard the drone.

Still, she gave it less than a minute before he'll give out his 'That's-not-gonna-interest-me-at-all' speech.

She began to talk. She talked about waking up with a hangover after partying with her girl friends the night before. She talked about coming to work late and having her manager snapping at her heels at every possible moment. She talked about the tray of plates which decided to follow the rules of gravity than her own attempts at balance. About the toddler who threw up on her apron. The guy who grabbed her butt. Her manager's yells when she'd snapped at that guy. The extra hours she had to spend cleaning up as punishment.

Without knowing it, she had related her entire day to Sheldon, including the traffic ticket she'd gotten for speeding shortly before picking him up at Caltech.

"I can never understand why you choose to accelerate. Not only does it increase your chances of accident, it also increases your chances at being noticed by an officer of the law. In this scenario, the latter has proven itself correct."

"Boy, you really know how to make a girl feel better," Penny grumbled, and paused. She hadn't realized until then, that Sheldon had been replying to her, and not just about the traffic ticket. Granted he could've used a little more tact, but he'd been responsive and interested.

Weird.

"I sense sarcasm," Sheldon declared, a finger pointed at her, "but I also detect something in your tone to indicate your stress level has gone down."

"I suppose," Penny shrugged. She had to admit, she was feeling much better. "I guess I just needed to get that off my chest. Thanks for listening, Sheldon."

"You're welcome, Penny." Sheldon beamed his self-satisfied smile, and Penny snorted. He always enjoyed being right, the whackadoodle, but in a sense, she took it as that he enjoyed helping. The way he seemed to enjoy explaining to her about anything and everything she could care less about. Like the know-it-all every kid in the block hated.

Still, Penny thought it was rather cute. Now if only that kid didn't have the adult body of Sheldon Cooper, it wouldn't be so weird and annoying sometimes. But that was what made Sheldon Sheldon. His child-like innocence was eandering...

"Did you happen to engage in coitus last night with some random steriod-infused and testosterone-addled male?"

Penny winced. So much for endearing innocence. "Sweetie, we already talked about this. It is not appropriate to mention my sex life in public."

"But did you?"

Penny stared at Sheldon. The look on his face sent a thousand questions springing from her head but she knew she wouldn't get the chance to ask them if she didn't answer him first. "No, I didn't."

"Good," he said, and went back to eating his cobbler.

"Good?" Penny mimmicked after she had re-hinged her jaw, then lowered her voice. "Good that I hadn't gotten laid in nearly six months?"

She waited for Sheldon to respond, but when he didn't, she gave him a nudge with her foot.

"What?"

"I was asking you a question."

"Youd did, but I thought we were not supposed to mention your sex life in public."

"Then why the hell did you ask me if I had sex last night?"

Plates and glasses clinked. It was then that Penny realized she had said it a little too loudly, and she began wishing she could shrink in her seat and avoid all the eyes around her.

"If you must know why I asked..." Sheldon said after a time, "...it's because past experiences have told me that your nights of alcoholic beverages are usually accompanied by coitus. You mentioned earlier about drinking, so I simply assumed."

"Uh-huh. And what was good about my NOT having sex last night?"

Sheldon's spoonful of cobbler stopped half-way through his mouth. "Did I say that?"

"Yeah. You did."

"Huh." Sheldon put set his spoon down and stared at her. She stared back, and thought this was getting very disturbing. Normally, she could read Sheldon...but it seemed with the faraway look in his eyes, he couldn't even read himself.

And why were those eyes so damn blue today?

"Penny, you really have to be more careful with the way you eat." Sheldon pointed at her face. "You have chocolate at the corner of your lip."

Penny rolled her eyes. The only time Sheldon seemed to act like an adult was when it came to cleanliness. She started to reach for her napkin when he suddenly stretched his arm across the table and wiped the smudge off her lip.

If that wasn't shocking enough, then the way he later sucked the chocolate off his thumb while keeping his eyes locked on hers certainly was, and Penny felt her breath hitch.

Sheldon turned back to his cobbler. It wasn't until his third spoon that Penny found her voice again. "Sheldon...did you just..."

He looked at her again, and this time, his eyes were clear. Not smoldering like before. And he looked genuinely confused. "Did I just what?"

"You...Never mind," Penny muttered and went back to eating. Of course he wouldn't know. Sheldon Cooper wasn't the type to realize he'd just done something...sexy.

Holy crap on a cracker. She'd just used Sheldon and sexy in one sentence!

Then, Penny remembered...and wished she hadn't, because after a few minutes, it was all she could think of: The bulge she'd seen in Sheldon's pants the day before.

No, that wasn't an erection, Penny thought furiously. It was just the way his pants creased when he sat, or maybe the shadows, or her tired eyes playing tricks on her. Besides, why the hell would Sheldon even have a hard on? Still, it was an impressive bulge, and...

She shook her head and polished off the rest of her warm brownie cup. You know you haven't had sex for a while when your train of thoughts included erection and Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

**A/N:** Yup, had to post the brownie cup right there. :D I'm just gonna stop here for now. I've been working on other chapter outlines and I'm having so much fun, I think this may be a longer fic than I'd originally thought. Oh, and I may be extremely busy. I'm attending my first cosplay event (it's an interschool competition) and I'm gonna be going as Death Note's Amane Misa. Too bad I can't find any blond wigs where I'm at, but I have temp hair color in a can, so that'll do. And wish me luck because I'll also be singing in the JPop Idol contest. I've been practicing "Why" by Ayaka, the theme song from Final Fantasy Crisis Core.  
Man this is gonna be a very fun week! Wheeee!


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"  
**Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy Rating: PG-15 Chapters: 4)  
**Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P.  
**Summary: **There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
**A/N:** AAAAH! I cannot begin to put words on how much fun I had in my very first cosplay event! And my team and I won second runner up! The competition was really stuff and I managed to beat the likes of Final Fantasy characters with my less than costly Amane Misa costume (for individual com)! Course, the prize went to the most elaborate costume, but I think to myself that I spent a lot less on my costume and it was worth it. Got myself lotsa pictures and met a lotta great people! Interested in pics? Check gwendy85. deviantart .com  
Okay, nerd off. I know this isn't what you're reading for. Anyway, haven't been online at all yesterday, online now so posting the next chapter ^_^ Hope you guys enjoy it! By the way, to all sheldon/penny fans, please have yourself listed in the official sheldon/penny fanlisting. You may find it here http:// users4. jabry. com/sheldonpennyinternational

Chapter 4

Penny parked the car by the apartment. It had been a long day with a bad start, a sweet middle, and a weird end...well, sweet and weird middle anyway, with Sheldon treating her and his...not being himself. The day was still long, and it was yet to end. It was Halo night after all.

She'd spent the rest of the ride home engaging in a word game with Sheldon. She'd learned some sci-fi through the years, while he, a little pop-culture, which resulted in them rushing to name a TV series or a movie whose first word starts with the first letter of every driver's plate they see. Normally, she would only participate half-heartedly, but this time, she went all junior rodeo. It was the only way she could get her mind off how intensely he had looked at her in the pastry shop while sucking his thumb.

She ended up winning the game, and Sheldon's pouty face--the same face he'd worn when she first defeated him in Halo--did make her forget and sent her to hysterics.

"Fine. You win this time. But the war's not over yet. Just wait until we exclude pop-culture references from the category."

"Well, I think you might just be underestimating what I know about sci-fi. I mean, I was the one who got Short Circuit," Penny reminded while unbuckling her seat belt.

One tug. Two tugs.

She looked down at the still attached buckles and tugged a third time.

Her car door opened, and Sheldon poked his face in. She hadn't realized he had gotten out of the car. "What's wrong?"

"My seat belt's stuck," she muttered, and made a vain attempt at a fourth tug. "Might've gotten caught in my uniform or some--"

Penny wasn't able to finish. Sheldon had pushed himself in the small space between herself and the steering wheel, and was bending down, his hands brushing hers as he dealt with the seat belt. His head was beneath her chin, his cheek practically brushing against her breasts.

It wasn't until her head began to hurt that she realized she was holding her breath.

One click, and the seat belt was off. Sheldon pulled back, and she heard a slight whoosh of air. But it wasn't from her.

"You smell quite pleasant today."

Penny snapped her head towards him. She was pretty sure the perfume she'd put on that morning had dissolved into sweat, dust, and from what had happened earlier in the restaurant, vomit. "Uhm...thank you?"

"You're welcome." Sheldon smiled. Actually smiled, and finally moved away from the car.

That was how Leonard found them, Sheldon, standing before the open car door as a red-faced Penny stepped out.

Leonard felt as though a circus crew had just made themselves at home in his stomach. "Uhm...hey guys."

"Hello, Leonard."

It unnerved him how they had said that together. So in sync. Like that time he and the others found them making those Penny Blossoms. "Uhm, Sheldon, you do realize you're a little off schedule for Halo night?"

Sheldon raised his wrist, then snapped his head towards Penny, his brows furrowed.

"Don't blame me," Penny fired. "You were the one who insisted on stopping at La Marea."

"Well, you were the one who was late from picking me up."

"Oh, so NOW you're mad? Great timing, Dr. Cooper."

"Unfortunately, I can't say the same for some people here."

"Guys, guys," Leonard called, holding his hands up as he approached them. "Arguing's just going to waste more time. Just go inside the apartment. Wolowitz and Koothrapalli are already up there."

"Fine." Sheldon tugged at the strap of his messenger bag and looked pointedly at Penny. "Penny, you'll be on my team."

"What? That's no fun. We'd cream Raj and Howard before they can even say Cortana."

"This will be your punishment for making me late for Halo Night. You should think yourself fortunate with this light reprimand." With that, Sheldon pivoted and marched inside the apartment.

After a moment, Leonard turned to Penny. He imagined his expression wasn't very far from his. "Uhm...Penny, you...er...went out with Sheldon?"

Penny blinked at him. "What?"

"You mentioned La Marea. The pastry shop." Leonard didn't have to squint to see the way Penny turned scarlet, and despite her brushing it off as nothing, he knew, deep in his gut, it was far from that.

Something had happened. Or was happening. "Are you sure it's...nothing?"

If ticks were for Sheldon, Leonard imagined blinks were for Penny, but hers came with a death glare that made him cringe. He could never take that look. Only Sheldon seemed to be able to with stand it. "God, Leonard. Stop treating me like you own me. I'm not your girlfriend and I haven't been for a long time. And why in the world would you be jealous of Sheldon?"

"I never said I was jealous," Leonard said quietly, and looked down in his shoes. It was the only way he could stop Penny from seeing through him. "I'm sorry if I gave you the impression. I...I'm just trying to be a friend."

A moment of silence was followed by an exasperated breath from Penny. When Leonard looked up, he saw her take on a faraway look. "Leonard, did you notice anything off with Sheldon lately?"

Leonard tried to keep a straight face. Something had definitely happened. "No. Why?" Then, he added, "Did you?"

"Never mind." Penny shook her head. "I better go before Sheldon decides to give me a strike. Have a nice day at work."

"It's gonna be night, but yeah, I think it's going to be nice." Leonard was thankful Penny was too distracted by her own thoughts to notice the crack in his voice.

***

"Dammit, Raj, why didn't you tell me Penny's up there?"

Raj gave Howard a look while shrugging his shoulders to convey the obvious. Penny grinned and grabbed the opportunity to throw a plasma grenade where Raj was at.

It missed, but she'd done it on purpose. And she was having more fun than she ever imagined. Earlier, Sheldon had presented to her the cat-and-mouse game plan against Howard and Raj. It had been difficult for her to understand at first, what with his leaning down and whispering with his face so close to hers and his breaths in her ear, but once she managed to cool the fires that were licking her skin, she mockingly gave him the Raj sign of approval.

That's how she and Sheldon spent hours making Howard and Raj think they were winning, and their little victory jigs and smirks were the cause of their undoing. Now, it was time to pull everything off.

Raj and Howard, as per Sheldon's plan, were leading by only a single point. As always, Dr. Cooper was right. This made them nervous as hell, not to mention sloppy and impulsive. Penny turned to Sheldon, who nodded and made his character come out at the open.

Penny caught the way Raj licked his lips, and she hid a smirk. Everything was going according to plan.

Raj's character readied for the snipe. Then, without warning, Penny's character appeared and shot him, blood splattering on the screen.

He was still alive but weak, and Penny couldn't help but laugh at how Raj flapped his arms and eeped in a vain attempt to ask Howard for a med pack. She and Sheldon began to weave through the buildings once more, and waited for Howard to take the bait.

He did, and it was all too easy.

One plasma grenade sent the skies raining Raj and Howard.

"Ha! In your face," Penny whooped. Sheldon had stood up to do this very weird jig while mocking Raj and Howard, and she laughed.

It was on impulse that she turned to wrap her arms around Sheldon while jumping up and down with him. Hey, she wanted in on the victory dance. This day had ended with a bang and he wasn't going to have all the glory and excitement to himself.

She should've known the day wasn't over, especially with its surprises, because Sheldon had actually hugged her back. She felt her cheeks flush, but only because she was suddenly inexplicably happy. Like their first Christmas together. Or Saturnalia as he would've put it.

They only stopped when Howard appeared in their view. "Wait...you played us the whole time, didn't you?"

"Took you that long to figure it out?" Penny chuckled, and Raj stood up to whisper in Howard's ear.

Howard jolted back. "You knew and you didn't tell me?"

Raj shrugged, then flapped his arms.

"This just proves why you only managed to get a master's degree," Sheldon quipped. "Raj had obviously understood mine and Penny's attempts, and you read his body language incorrectly. He hadn't been asking for a med pack. Now if thoughts of victory had not clouded your judgment, you could've been warranted the victory cheer Penny and I are presently engaging in."

Howard started to open his mouth, but it formed into a leer. Penny put her defenses on maximum level. "Oh...so Penny, if next time you get to be in my team, you could maybe do that little cheer with me?"

Penny frowned. What exactly was Howard talking about?

"Penny will never be in your team," Sheldon said as-a-matter-of-factly. "Not only is she completely averse to your sexual advances, despite your obliviousness to it, you would also have a 90% chance of losing the game since you will be distracted with thoughts of her and coitus."

The room grew quiet, and Penny swallowed hard. She turned to gave Sheldon a look, and it was then she realized she was still in his arms.

Wrapped very tightly in his arms.

She blushed and started to pull away but couldn't. Sheldon had tightened his grip around her.

"Sheldon..."

"Not now, Penny. I'm currently engaging in a staring-contest with Wolowitz here, though more likely, it's a glaring contest."

"Shel..." Penny paused. She was feeling something... "Sheldon, did you manage to fit your game controller in your pocket?"

Penny watched the color bloom in Sheldon's cheeks, then just as suddenly, disappear until he grew sickeningly pale.

He let go of her. "Excuse me a moment."

Three pairs of eyes watched him march stiffly to the direction of the bathroom. It wasn't until they heard the door close that Penny, Raj and Howard turned to share looks of confusion, with Raj doing his 'dude-what-the-hell' shrug.

"What the frak was that all about?"

"Beats me," Penny sighed, and backed up to the sofa, her feet instinctively taking her to Sheldon's spot. "He's been acting really...Oh!"

Penny shifted a bit from Sheldon's spot, and when she saw the object lying on his cushion, she blanched.

She had just sat on Sheldon's game controller.

It had never been in his pocket.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"  
**Author**: g_girl143 / gwendy Rating: PG Chapters: 5)  
**Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P.  
**Summary:** There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
**A/N: **Hi guys! Thank you so much for the reviews! I really did enjoy it, and as promised, I plowed through this chapter so I could get to the next one. I know things are a lil slow to burn if you know what I mean, but just think of it as testing your patience LOL! Think like the serum, we have to make sure every inch of Dr. Sheldon Cooper succumbs to our will.  
Oh, and a little side news, as most of you probably know, I've taken over ownership of the Official Sheldon/Penny Fanlisting (http: // users4. jabry. com / sheldonpennyinternational) but I got a little site hiccup when my original submission form wouldn't accept any more entries...because in only two days, it went past 100 submissions! Yes, I was so shocked with the growth. And to think we only had 16 members when we started. I fixed the forms now, so to those who haven't signed up yet, please do ^_^ Gotta show the whole world out numbers!  
Now, on to Chapter 5!

**Chapter 5**

"You should at least try to take a little nap, Leonard. I mean, it's 'Anything-Can-Happen' Thursday. You might miss something."

"Thanks Raj, but I'll be fine." Leonard opened a bottle of Red Bull and took a gulp. He and his friends were having lunch in the university cafeteria, and though he felt like his brain was floating in space, he knew from past experience he would manage. "Now that my experiments are done, I have to stay up the whole day to get my regular sleep patterns back."

"Frankly, Leonard, I'm still unsure as to why you continue with such pointless experimentations to theories that have already been proven. Or are you just waiting for some fortunate moment in which you will somehow but unlikely discover a flaw, which could perhaps land your name in the footnote of scientific history?"

Leonard barely even gave Sheldon a glance. He was too tired to argue, and his brain was starting to fly away again.

He managed to catch it, and turned towards Howard. "So, I take it you lost at Halo last night?"

Howard scowled. "It was Raj's fault. He didn't warn me--"

"Dude, how the hell was I supposed to warn you?" Raj cut in.

"You could've at least said something."

"I did. I waved my arms, didn't I?"

"Do you really think flapping your arms like a duck on ice is a warning?"

"She missed on purpose to keep me alive as bait! And how could I have said anything when Pe...eep!"

Leonard looked up from his salad and saw Raj had lowered his head into his collar like a turtle. A sure sign of female company. And when Leonard turned, he saw, to his surprise, Ramona Nowitzki closing in on Sheldon with a tall glass of pineapple juice.

"I noticed your glass was almost empty, Dr. Cooper, so I brought you a fresh one," Ramona explained in a breath before any of them could speak. "I made sure it's cool enough to quench your thirst, but not cold enough to prove damaging to your vocal chords. We can't afford for the greatest mind in the world to lose the power of speech."

"Why, thank you Ramona. That's very thoughtful, although why you bother, I can never tell. You've already given me an apology gift of cobblers and chocolates."

"This is just everyday appreciation, Dr. Cooper. And don't mind me. Just drink it."

Leonard watched as Sheldon drank the entire glass. Sure, it was a hot day, but that Sheldon was drinking something from Ramona Psycho Nowitzki without much protest or thought was disturbing, although other than that, Leonard wasn't sure exactly how he should feel about it.

Sheldon set the empty glass down, and Leonard could've sword Ramona was...horrifyingly happy about it. Her smile reminded him of Sheldon's kill-Batman smile, and it was clear with the way Howard and Raj angled their bodies away from her that they found it just as creepy.

Then, Ramona put a hand on Sheldon's shoulder. This made Raj squeak again, while Leonard continued to watch, his eyes focused on the way Ramona's fingers began to move slowly along Sheldon's collar. Leonard heard Howard whisper 'frak', but he stopped himself from reacting, and just continued to watch. And wait. Though for what, he wasn't sure.

Sheldon looked up. "Do you need anything else, Ramona?"

"Oh, I certainly do..." Ramona breathed, and moved so this time, her hip touched Sheldon's shoulder. It wasn't until then that Leonard noticed Ramona was wearing something more in fashion than her usual sweater and plain jeans. He'd even go so far as saying she looked like some hot freshman, though that god-awful smile was still off-putting. "Dr. Cooper, I went through he history of your work and read through your paper on the perturbative amplitudes in n=4 supersymmetric theories. I'm still a little confused by it, so do you think you'd be able to..." Ramona's finger was now writing a little S on the skin of Sheldon's neck, "...indulge a lesser mind like mine and enlighten me? In private?"

Leonard sucked in a breath. He didn't have to look to see Howard and Raj had turned to stone.

"Ramona?"

"Yes, Dr. Cooper?"

"Please leave."

Leonard exhaled loudly. Ramona's face was devoid of color, and Sheldon looked...well, Sheldon. And he was doing a semi-death glare.

"Dr. Cooper," Ramona stammered, "Did I do anything to offend you? Is it that I'm wearing a skirt with a hem three inches above my knee or that the top two buttons of my blouse are undone? Is it the juice? The--"

"Ramona, everything you say is correct, and to save you the time and effort, I will simply add that you are making me uncomfortable with your persistence at invading my personal space, not to mention writing the letters S, E and X on my skin, though why you would do so is beyond me. Now, please leave so I may continue to converse with my colleagues."

Leonard watched Ramona try to keep a straight face as she stomped away. When she disappeared, he turned back to Sheldon and started to speak, but Howard beat him to it.

"What the frak did you just do that for, Sheldon?"

"What?"

"Dude, she was hitting on you big time," Raj declared with an emphatic slap on the table. "Didn't you just say she wrote 'sex' on your neck?"

"Yes, but that would hardly be an indication that...Oh." Sheldon blinked, and Leonard had to roll his eyes. Some genius, he thought. "Well, regardless, if indeed her tracing a suggestive word on my neck is a signal that she is interested in achieving coitus with me, I cannot say I reciprocate the feeling. She is, as the urban youth would put it, not my type."

Leonard frowned at that, but again, Howard beat him to the question. "So you're saying you do have a type?"

"Just because I said Ramona's not my 'type' doesn't mean I have a 'type'."

"Actually, it kinda does," Leonard quipped, and sure enough, Sheldon scowled at him.

"Leonard, am I to assume that you are disagreeing with me?"

"Well, you're certainly disagreeing with yourself. I mean...the opposite of negative is positive and vice versa, not neutral. Ergo, since you have stated Ramona is not your type, then something...or someone else must be."

Sheldon's entire face tightened and twitched, and the veins protruded from his neck like snakes. Leonard had seen him react this way whenever he was was proven wrong, though this being Sheldon, he was sure to transcend or skirt the situation without losing face.

Sheldon cleared his throat. "Then perhaps I should put an addition to my statement. Ramona is not my type, nor is anyone else my type."

"Oh, you are sooo dead down there," Leonard heard Howard mutter, though if Sheldon heard, he didn't acknowledge. "Sheldon, Ramona may be...well, psycho, but you gotta admit, she has gotten hotter in the last two years."

"And she has the hots for you," Raj added.

"Yes, but that's hardly a reason to even think of engaging in coitus with her," Sheldon pointed out.

"Dude!" Raj threw exasperated arms in the air. "A girl practically begging to sleep with you IS a reason to have sex with her."

"That is a fact yet to be established. You are not Ramona, and therefore, would not be able to tell exactly what her thoughts are," Sheldon refuted, then faced Howard. "For another, sleeping with someone who is begging to be slept with provides no challenge and is therefore, pathetic."

"If pathetic means getting laid, then sure, I'm pathetic." Howard shook his open palms in the air. Leonard thought it made him look like a bogeyman. "But not getting laid at all is even more pathetic."

"There is nothing pathetic about having the ability to rise above one's libido. In fact, it is a strength. Remember Dennis Kim?"

"So he knocked up his girlfriend but we're talking about you here. You, not getting laid, very pathetic."

"How many times must I establish that controlling one's libido is a strength? Have any of you tried to do that?" Sheldon challenged, and was met with silence. With a smug look, he turned back to his sandwich. "I didn't think so."

Leonard took another sip of Red Bull. He had to admit, Sheldon had a point. "Sheldon, what exactly don't you like about Ramona? You once told me she's smart, insightful, and she practically worships the ground you walk on."

"Yes, that is true," Sheldon conceded in a flat tone. "She certainly has been giving me gifts of food, and lavishing me everyday with compliments. But she holds no respect for my personal boundaries, practically breathing her carbon dioxide into my face. Not to mention she continuously grabs at any opportunity to touch me."

"You don't seem to mind that with Penny," Raj reminded. "Especially last night."

A slight jolt of the table, and Leonard heard the tinkling of metal against the floor. At first, he thought he'd knocked one of his utensils over, but then he saw Sheldon bend down to pick up his own bread knife.

"Well, it seems that gravity is still a pervalent principle," Sheldon muttered into the silence, then waved his hand. "Let's move along to the next topic of conversation and exclude any mention of Ramona in it. Are we clear?"

Raj and Howard muttered their agreement and began opening a topic on Captain America.

But Leonard wasn't going to let things slide. "Raj, what exactly happened with Penny last night?"

Another jolt of their table. It was subtler this time, but it was there, and Leonard made it a point to keep a furitive eye on Sheldon, who had begun slicing his sandwich like it was uncooked beef.

Slicing it with the bread knife that had fallen to the floor, and which Leonard hadn't even seen him wipe clean.

Raj narrated about Penny and Sheldon's sneaky tactics, his and Howard's defeat, and the victory jig and hug which ended with Sheldon rushing off to the bathroom, and Penny to flee to her own apartment. It didn't take long for the conversation to move to a heated argument between Raj and Howard as to who was to blame, but Leonard tuned them out, except for the times they mentioned Penny's name. Those were the moments when Sheldon's nostrils would flare, his eye would twitch, and his lips would quiver.

And he was still slicing his sandwich until the ear-splitting noise of the bread knife against the ceramic plate caused other diners to turn their heads in annoyance.

Leonard reached out and grabbed Sheldon's hand. Sheldon froze and slowly raised his head. His breathing was erratic, Leonard noticed, and his forehead was beginning to shine with sweat.

Leonard took a deep breath, and whispered, "Penny."

Sheldon did one hard slice on the plate, the screech reverberating in the cafeteria. Groans and glares were thrown their way, though Leonard was obivious to it, especially Raj and Howard, who seemed on the verge of strangling each other.

Sheldon dropped the knife on the plate and pulled his hand away. "Excuse me a moment."

Leonard watched him practically flee the table, bumping into several students before bursting out of the cafeteria doors. He blinked and took off his glasses to clean the lens, though he knew Sheldon's streaking past his line of sights like a blur had nothing to do with a smudged pair of spectacles.

He put his glasses back on, and that's when he saw Dr. Leslie Winkle heading towards their table. Raj and Howard had stopped arguing, mostly because Raj had eeped and gone mute.

"Good day, men."

"Good day, Leslie," Leonard greeted, and waited for her to ask where 'Dr. Dumbass' was.

But what she said next surprised him. "You better check up on Dr. Dumbass. I've been informed he's taking an unscheduled shower in the radiation lab."

Leonard caught the smirk on Leslie's face just before she turned and sauntered over to the cafeteria lines.

A/N: No physical manifestation of Penny in this chapter, but of course, we can't forget to at least give the two female antagonists of this fanfic a little spotlight ^_^ Penny will be in the next chapter though, and I will try my best to update quickly.  
Do you want teasers? Then highlight the words below:  
Clothes will be discarded.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: **"The Cooper Libido Experiment" Author: g_girl143 / gwendy  
** Rating: **PG-13 Chapters: 6/(?)  
**Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...  
**Summary:** There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
**A/N:** Get ready for one long chapter guys, with a lot of dialogue. I particularly enjoyed writing this one and I do hope you enjoy it too ^_^ Posted just a day after the 5th chapter, so give your love to gemsile123 for the quick beta! The 7th chapter may be a lil late though, as I still have a few knots I need to tie on that one.

For Sheldon/Penny fans, don't forget to sign up at http:// users4 . jabry. com / sheldonpennyinternational  
Wanna interact with other Sheldon/Penny fans? Join the community! http:// livejournal. com / sheldon_penny

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"Penny, take your clothes off."

Penny blinked and stared at Sheldon as though he were mad. Well, she almost always stared at Sheldon as though he were, but this was the first time in a long time she had ever considered him seriously bonkers.

It was Anything-Can-Happen Thursday. After the awkwardness of yesterday's Halo Night which had forced her to leave without saying goodbye (to Sheldon anyway), she'd planned on avoiding him entirely, which was why she was thankful Leonard had finished his experiments. He'd been the one to drive Sheldon to and from work. But after that, there was no avoiding spending time with them. Her girl friends all had dates, and Leonard had practically begged her to come over. She wasn't obliged to of course, her and Leonard having called it quits years ago, but Leonard had put up a very good argument that Sheldon just might come over and talk her into not disrupting his daily routine by her absence.

She'd relented, mostly because she'd rather not be alone with Sheldon. She didn't want to dwell on the reason why she didn't want to be alone with him, but what he was asking her now certainly raised some interesting points.

Penny managed to rehinge her jaw and closed the door of apartment 4A. "Excuse me?"

"Take your clothes off," Sheldon repeated as though he were just asking her to hand him the remote control, and then added, "Please."

Penny tried to speak but no words came out. She looked around the living room, but the other two men were not gonna be of any help. Raj, though watching her and Sheldon's exchange, was cowering in the middle of the couch, while Howard was sitting back in one of the armchairs, clearly enjoying the show.

He'd probably enjoy it if, for some impossible reason, she obeyed Sheldon's command.

Penny walked past Sheldon and put the plastic bag of Chinese take out on the coffee table. She knew, without looking, that Sheldon had followed her and was standing very close.

"Penny, did you not hear what I said?"

"Yes, Sheldon, I did." She turned and glared at him. He looked nonplussed and just so...clueless, she wanted to strangle him to his senses. If he even had that. "But why the hell would you ask me to take my clothes off?"

Sheldon snorted. "I could state a number of reasons. For one, you have not run out of clothes to wear, as you had just gone on a shopping spree three days ago which left you financially burdened, again, whereby I had to call upon the power of a favorite superhero to save you."

Penny groaned. "Look, Sheldon. I'm sorry, okay? But I'll pay you back as soon as I can and--"

"Your clearing your debts has nothing to do with the current situation, though it had to be brought up to point out the fact that you DO have a change of clothes. And frankly, I have never given you any time constraints as to when you should pay me back. Because I know you most certainly will."

In any other situation, Penny would've greatly appreciated Sheldon's complete trust in her. "I just wanted to wear this tonight, that's all."

"I can't see why you would. Temperatures are still high, and it's clear by the beads of sweat on your forehead that this has also affected you. Why, I myself have had to pull back my sleeves to my elbows." Sheldon showed her his forearms, and she shivered. She rarely got to see them, and the few times she did made her blood run hot. Damn, if she couldn't understand why. "There, you see? Your cheeks have even turned scarlet from the heat."

She quickly turned away and began to retrieve the takeout trays from the bag. "So what if I wanted to wear a jacket and sweatpants today? Just think of me having my own walking sauna."

"That would certainly provide a reasonable explanation to your choice of garments, but that maroon jacket you are currently sporting does not match the blue top you have underneath, nor the bright green of your sweatpants. I thought you had more fashion sense than that."

Penny chewed at the inside of her cheek to stop herself from retaliating. Of course she knew her clothes were mismatched. She'd done that on purpose, but damn if she was going to tell Dr. Whackadoodle that.

"It seems I am currently subject to your inattention." She heard Sheldon harrumph when she continued to ignore him, and she imagined he was pulling back his shoulders. "Very well, I didn't want to put it so bluntly after sugarcoating the fact...but what I've been trying to tell you is that your clothes make you look unattractive."

She stopped putting away the takeout trays and turned to face him. She tried to tell herself this had been her purpose, to look as unattractive as possible, but she hadn't anticipated being this upset at having it pointed out. By Sheldon. "Unattractive?"

Sheldon raised a brow. "I'm saying it makes you look fat and ugly."

The reasonable side of Penny's mind told her to let his words slide, to ask him when he had even started to care about the way she looked, to continue with this verbal spar and never let him win, but the ego was a hard mistress to suppress.

Before she knew it, she had already pulled off her jacket and thrown it on Sheldon's spot. She heard Howard hitch a breath, and Raj release a squeak, but she ignored them both. "There! Happy now?"

"Not yet." Sheldon took her jacket off his spot and began meticulously folding it. Freak, Penny thought. "You are still wearing those horrid sweatpants, though by the bulk around your hips, I have deduced you are actually wearing shorts underneath. So if you would be so kind, please discard your sweatpants as well."

"Come on, Penny. You heard the man. Take your pants off."

Penny snapped her head towards Howard. He was looking at her the way he always did. Like some pimple-faced teenager who'd just discovered what sex was. She thought of the perfect attack, and started to speak.

"I'm not asking her to take her pants off in front of us, you lecherous turd," Sheldon flared, and the words died in Penny's throat. She turned to look at him, and saw he was glaring daggers at Howard. "Penny, go change in my bedroom."

"W...What?"

He turned to her then, and she could practically feel the heat from his anger. For some reason, it made a ticklish, but not at all unpleasant feeling settle at the pit of her stomach. "Go change in my bedroom. Leonard's in the bathroom after having accidentally consumed whole cream milk, and his room still has the lingering scent of flatulence."

Penny grimaced. "I thought no one was allowed in your bedroom. I'll just go change in my apartment."

"And waste time and energy by walking across the hall when I've already given you a more convenient alternative?" He pointed at the corridor. "I'm giving you temporary access. You have two minutes. Go."

Penny wanted to protest, and she did try to, but the moment Sheldon put his hand on the small of her back made all her thoughts dissolve into mush, more so when he actually led her to his bedroom. She was thankful he left the moment she was inside, or he would've seen her knees shaking.

She didn't waste any time, and less than a minute later, she re-emerged in the living room.

Howard whistled, his eyes on her shorts. "Hello, hello kitty."

"Honestly, Howard, can you, for once, not be a creature worthy of disgust?" Sheldon growled, and this made Penny tighten her arms around the pair of sweatpants she was carrying. "Acknowledging the prints of a woman's shorts with a suggestive tone is improper."

"But...didn't you like..." Howard held his hands up to go with his shrug, "...say the same thing to her way back--"

"Irrelevant. I did not have coitus in mind at the time."

Penny didn't exactly know what to make of Sheldon's response.

She breathed a sigh of relief when Leonard finally came inside the room. "Hey guys, what did I miss?"

"You missed Penny's little striptease," Howard replied with a leer, and once again, Penny had to glare at him.

"I didn't do a striptease, you lecherous turd," she fired, then froze. Did she just use Sheldon's language?

Sheldon spoke again, and it didn't hit Penny until then exactly how much he'd been defending her that night. "One more word out of you, Howard, and you're banished. You already have two strikes, and I have a good mind to add 'no sexual teasing of Penny' to the rules."

The room became as quiet as Raj, who still hadn't said a word from his vantage point at the couch. Sheldon stuck his nose in the air and took one of the trays from the coffee table before sitting down in his spot. He hadn't even asked her if she got his order right, although she believed she did.

"So," Sheldon opened his takeout, "what are we going to do tonight besides eating and basking in this glow of awkward silence? And yes, I am being thoroughly sarcastic."

Penny managed to gather herself and took one last item from the plastic bag. "I have the original Thai version of Shutter on BluRay. I heard it's even scarier than the remake."

She heard groans from both Howard and Raj, while Leonard, who was now seated at the other end of the couch, sipped loudly from his cup of coffee. Asian horror, she knew, wasn't her boys' thing especially if it didn't involve anything scientific, but the film came highly recommended, and she didn't want to watch it alone.

She turned her eyes on Sheldon and waited for him to protest and tell her the impossibilities of the film as well as nitpicking at its quality and degrading her tastes.

But all he said was, "Good. I suggest though, that we watch it after we eat. If indeed the film is as scary as you say it is, we might end up with some people," he looked at Raj, "choking on their masticated food particles."

Raj responded with frown and a helpless shrug, then leaned over to retrieve his own take out. Penny started for the chair beside the couch and was about to sit down when Sheldon opened his mouth again.

"Raj, you're in Penny's spot."

All heads turned to look at Sheldon, although Penny imagined hers were the widest eyes in the room. "Whoa! Since when did I have a spot?"

"I suppose it has been an unspoken agreement through the years, but if you wish for me to put it in writing, I can do so after the movie," Sheldon replied, though he didn't turn from glaring at Raj, who seemed to be shrinking by the minute. "Sit over there."

Raj quickly moved to take the chair Penny had been planning to sit on. She looked at him for a moment before turning to face Sheldon again, who was obviously waiting for her to sit down.

She shook her head. Things were getting so freakishly weird tonight. "Sheldon, no offense, but I don't wanna sit there."

He frowned. "And why wouldn't you? This is the closest seat to my spot, which you seem to have a fondness of making your own."

"Sheldon, I can't always be in one spot like you. Besides, it's Anything-Can-Happen Thursday. That means I sit wherever I want."

Sheldon shifted in his seat, although the way he held his shoulders told Penny he had an argument ready. He always, she thought with annoyance, had an argument ready. "Penny, have I ever, in the entire course of our friendship, insisted you sit beside me?"

"Uhm...no..."

"Then, I am abiding by the rules of Anything-Can-Happen Thursday. Now, sit."

Penny felt her shoulders slacken as she begrudgingly took 'her spot' beside Sheldon. She thought she saw him smile, but she was too angry at being defeated to care.

Sheldon Cooper, 2. Penny, 0.

* * *

Penny pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Her eyes were glued to the TV, watching as things became even more ominous for Tun and Jane, the lead couple of the movie. Raj had his fists around his mouth like a boxer on defense, while Howard sat stiffly in his seat, his fingers almost holding on to the arm rests for dear life. Leonard was pressing himself against the couch, his hands covering his face though he'd spread his fingers to watch. Only Sheldon seemed oblivious, his body relaxed on the couch, his face expressionless and almost bored.

The entire apartment was dark, save for the glow of the television. She'd been the one to insist on turning off the lights to add to the scare factor, but now she wished she hadn't. She started to lean towards Leonard, but he was jumpy, and he looked as though one touch would send him screaming like a banshee.

God, she didn't need that right now, especially since Tun was slowly waking up to find something...or someone slowly dragging his blanket away from him...

Natre, the movie's ghost, suddenly came into view. Screams echoed in the living room, and she couldn't tell whether it was hers or Howard's that was louder.

It was pure defensive instinct that sent her wrapping her arms around Sheldon. He froze, but that didn't keep her from burying her face into his shirt, muffling her scream on his collarbone when she managed to steal a glance at the screen.

Then, the scene was over. It had all been Tun's nightmare, but that didn't stop obscenities from being thrown, especially from Howard.

Then, all was silent again, and they continued to watch.

"It's okay," she heard Sheldon whisper, his breath in her ear. That's when she realized she was still hugging him.

She would've let go if Natre hadn't popped into the scene again, and she ended up tightening her arms around Sheldon. "Dammit, I shouldn't have gotten this movie. I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks."

"It's only a movie, Penny," Sheldon said, and his tone calmed her. He wasn't condescending. In fact, he sounded almost protective. "Certainly, the elements of the movie, like the sounds, background and lighting, make-up and acting takes advantage of the innate human fear of death, but on a whole, it is something that cannot possibly happen in real life..."

Sheldon continued to whisper to her, explaining this and that, about scientific improbabilities and whatnot, and soon, it became so lost to her until all she heard was the drone. That beautiful, lovely, musical, soothing drone. Strange, how she could continue to watch the movie yet still listen to him talk. It was just like back in high school, wherein she couldn't concentrate on studying unless the radio or the TV was on. Like she needed some validation that...she wasn't alone.

It made the movie more bearable, and each time a scary scene came on, Sheldon had a good explanation ready. Another thing that helped was his arm around her shoulders, though how it came to rest there, she wasn't sure.

But it felt nice. And comfortable.

Then, it became a little too comfortable. Sheldon's palm was slowly stroking her shoulder, and later, running up and down her arm. And she reacted...by pressing herself even closer to him.

She didn't know what was going on, but soon, she lost all interest in the movie and concentrated on the electricty of Sheldon's hand moving along her skin. She could feel his heartbeat against her ear, though she couldn't remember when she'd pressed her cheek to his chest. She heard and felt him smell her hair, and she took in her own deep breath, inhaling the fresh scent of his shirt.

He always smelled so clean.

Somewhere along the line, his other hand had come to rest on her thigh, which she had since pressed against his leg. For a moment, her eyes darted to the other men in the room, but when she found them engrossed in the movie, she relaxed and shifted even closer to Sheldon.

She'd never wanted to be so close to him as she did now.

She felt him move his hand along her thigh, and she had to swallow a gasp and look up at him. He wasn't looking at her, and in fact, had his eyes on the TV.

She bit her lip and buried her face in his chest again. Did he even know what he was doing? Or realize how it was making her feel?

Well, of course he wouldn't know, her mind whispered. This was Sheldon Cooper. He probably thought he was handling or coddling her like that cat he had when he was little. He didn't know the first thing when it came to intimacy, and it made her feel a bit guilty that she was...taking advantage of the situation. Because by God, that was what she was doing. She hadn't been touched for so long, and to be touched by Sheldon, asexual extraordinaire...

But was he really dead down there? The thought made Penny quiver. The first time she'd seen it, she'd dismissed it. The second time, when she'd actually felt it...she had still been in denial. But right now, she was wishing that what she had seen was real. That somehow...Sheldon was really human and could actually feel something.

For her.

Her eyes started to lower but before she could check and see, the lights were snapped on, and she immediately let go of him. She blinked away the spots in her eyes until she saw the credits roll in the screen. She hadn't even realized the movie had ended.

"That was some scary shit," Howard declared, shakily moving away from the light switch. He turned to Raj, who still had his fists bunched up against his jaw. "Remind me never to date Thai chicks. And to stay away from Thai food for a while."

"Come on, Howard, it's only a movie," Leonard declared, though he sounded obviously relieved that it was over. He turned to look at Penny, and she hastily lowered her head so he wouldn't see how flushed she was.  
She saw him frown. Oh God, she thought. He'd noticed...

Leonard's question, however, was directed at Sheldon. "Sheldon, what are you doing with that tray?"

Penny turned. and saw Sheldon had put one of the empty takeout trays on his lap, covering his crotch. "It was dark earlier. I thought there was still food in it."

"Well, it's light now, and we finished eating well over an hour ago. And...I don't even think that's your tray."

"Why do you always nitpick on every little detail, Leonard?" Sheldon fumed, much to Penny and everyone's surprise, before he stood to his full height, the tray still clutched to his groin. "If you'll excuse me, I need to brush my teeth."

His strides were stiff, as though he had broken something, but they were quick enough to get him to the bathroom real fast.

Penny took in a deep breath and busied herself with putting away the takeout trays. She needed to do something...anything to distract her, but her thoughts were too loud, and even Howard and Leonard's excited discussion about the movie couldn't take her mind away from how Sheldon had touched and held her.

And the thought of what he could possibly be hiding behind that tray.

"I need to drink some water," Howard muttered and walked over to the sink. It wasn't long before they heard him scream and curse.

"The damned water's hot!" Howard declared, though it sounded more like "da dan wates hothf". He'd obviously burned his tongue. He then marched to the bathroom and knocked. "Sheldon, are you taking a cold shower in there?"

"Talking to me through the bathroom door! Strike three, Howard. You're banished."

"Great." Howard's shoulders slumped. "And just when I'd finished the class last week too..."

**A/N: **"Shutter" is my favorite Asian Horror film, and I personally deem it to be even scarier than "The Ring". I wish I could say the same for the American remake, but that's my opinion. I only watched that movie once. I never watched it again. And until now, Natre scares the hell out of me. Nuff said about that ^_^ Some of you may have recalled the third chapter of my first multi-chapter S/P fic, "The Elevator Conundrum". There, the first line began with Penny telling Sheldon to take his clothes off. I just decided to bring back that technique, but of course, in reverse LOL. Didn't I say in my teaser that clothes will be discarded? *wink wink* I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm working on Chapter 7, and it will be Sheldon/Penny centric as well, and there will be some vague reminders of another of my previous fics ;). Til then *mwah* Teasers? Room invasion...


	7. Chapter 7

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"

**Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy

**Rating:** NC-17 (?)

**Chapters:** 7/(?)

**Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...

**Summary:** There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.

**A/N:** I seriously never thought that this would be such a long fic. It's just taking over my life! And good God, I haven't drawn any Sheldon/Penny fanart for weeks!!! Anyway, give your thanks to the participants of the Sheldon/Penny Scavenger Hunt, because they'll be handing me their fanart requests soon, and then I'd be pulled away from this frenzied writing to start drawing again LOL! I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter. It was fun to write ^_^ And ooooh! Look at the rating! Then again, I have a different cultural background so my NC-17 might not be too...you know. You be the judge ^_^

**Chapter 7**

"Die, you undead mummy, die!" Penny screamed into her headset as she directed Queen Penelope into a frenzy stance. It had been a while since the eventful Anything-Can-Happen-Thursday. Two days, three days...she wasn't all that sure. But after that night, she'd gone back to her apartment, still without saying goodbye to Sheldon, and taken her own cold shower, not realizing until then how hideously aroused she'd been.

And it was all because of Dr. Sheldon Cooper and his damned hands.

The next morning, she'd woken up hornier than ever. She'd actually dreamt about him. Of her, watching "Shutter" alone, him coming over to accompany her, them recreating their hug on the couch; but without the boys, there'd been more liberties taken, which ended with them making out. It had felt so real, his lips on hers, his tongue sliding against hers, his hands inside her top to massage her breasts and tease her nipples...

Then, she'd woken up with a moan, which was quickly followed by a freaked out scream.

She seriously, _seriously_ needed to get laid.

And so, she'd begun flirting again. It had never been difficult for her, and she quickly set up a date with some surfer-wannabe with bleach-blonde hair named Brandon or something like that. She'd chosen to wear this little black dress, which barely left anything to the imagination, but hey, if she was to get some on the first date, she had to go all junior rodeo.

Everything had been going according to plan. Her makeup had been perfect; every golden strand of her hair in place, and her dress fitted her like a second skin. In fact, she already had her hand on the doorknob when she saw her laptop.

She'd thought that one little game wouldn't hurt. Twenty minutes tops would be fine. After all, it's better for a woman to be fashionably late, but before she knew it, she'd finished ten quests in Age of Conan and missed several calls and texts. It was only when her throat demanded water that she noticed it was already eleven in the evening.

Since the damage was already done, she continued to play. Time flew by when she did. Immersed in the fantasy world of Conan, Penny forgot everything else--her lousy job, her disappointing acting career, her money problems, her next-to-nothing sex life...Sheldon...

"Oh, fuck!" Penny screamed when the mummy hacked at Queen Penelope. _Great_, she thought furiously. Now she'd have to start all over again. This was going to be her fifth time. There had to be some way of defeating that damned toilet-paper-wrapped behemoth without needing a party...

Her mind settled on Sheldon. It was natural, of course, that she would turn to him for assistance on the game. What wasn't natural was her sudden excitement at the thought of going into his room for advice. The last time she'd done so had been purely out of her desperate need to level up.

Now there was another need; but she had managed to 'downgrade' it at least to an inexplicable need to see him.

She rose from her couch, grabbed the emergency keys for 4A, and snuck across the hall. She entered the boys' apartment and saw they'd already turned out the lights. _Good_, she thought. She'd rather not explain anything to Leonard.

She tiptoed across the living room and towards the corridor leading to the bedrooms. She fumbled a bit with Sheldon's door, then opened it as silently as possible.

"Penny?"

Penny froze midway through entering the room. She hadn't anticipated Sheldon being awake, and she'd even held the tiniest, weirdest hope she'd be hearing him shout 'Danger! Danger!' again.

She closed the door. "Yes, Sheldon, it's me."

"You're in my bedroom." He sounded strained, but not at all sleepy. Had he been awake all this time? She couldn't tell much from the dim light, and without a word, she reached out to flick the light switch on.

Bright light washed upon the room and momentarily blinded her, but when her eyes adjusted, she saw Sheldon sitting on his bed, the comforter clutched to his chest, his hands hidden. He was red-faced, and a bead of sweat was running down his cheek.

Penny's face crinkled with worry as she walked over to the side of the bed. "Honey, are you running a fever?"

Her hand was instantly on his forehead. She'd done it on pure instinct, but touching him sent a jolt of electricity through her palm and up her arm.

She quickly pulled back at the sudden reminder of her other reasons for being in his room. She didn't want to 'upgrade' those reasons.

Thankfully though, he didn't seem to have a temperature. What she was worried about was her own, especially when she recalled the way Sheldon had...to her ears anyway...moaned when she touched him.

"I'm not sick," Sheldon muttered, and pulled the comforter higher up his chest, his hands still hidden. "Penny, people can't be in my bedroom."

"Then, can we go talk in the living room? I just need a bit of help with Age of Conan."

A flicker in Sheldon's eyes, and a shift beneath the blankets. "I'm not wearing pajama bottoms."

Penny blinked. "Why?"

"I spilled grape juice."

Penny took in a breath. She hadn't been hit with such a big wave of déjà vu in a long while. Except this time, Sheldon had said it quicker, and his eye was twitching. "Well...wear different pajamas."

"I can't wear different pajamas. These are my Sunday pajamas."

"Oh..." Penny bit her lip. She should've known he would say something like that, but she was thinking of something else. "I didn't realize it was already Sunday."

"Yes. Exactly two days, twenty-three hours and seventeen minutes since you left the apartment without saying goodbye to me." He had pounded the last two words, which made Penny look at him in surprise, but before she could say anything, he asked, "What exactly do you need help with? And please make your explanation brief and concise. You are already disrupting my circadian rhythms as it is."

Penny nodded and began talking at length about the quests she had gone through. The more she talked, the more she forgot until all she had in mind was finishing her quests, and she managed, for a moment, to ignore the way her body seemed to be angling itself towards Sheldon. Sheldon promptly gave her an answer, and she felt like an idiot for not thinking about that solution in the first place.

"Thanks, Sheldon. You're the best." She smiled and leaned down to kiss his cheek. He visibly shuddered, and she spun around, wondering what the frak was happening to her while managing to walk away without appearing affected. Because she damned well was.

Sheldon called out before she could leave the room. "Penny, have you been turning to Age of Conan to relieve yourself of sexual frustrations again?"

Penny's hands tightened around the doorknob as she slowly turned her head back to Sheldon's direction. He must've taken her expression as a glare, because he added, "We are not in public grounds. Am I also not allowed to discuss your sex life with you in private? And I do recall you mentioning you had not had coitus for nearly half a year. If my calculations are correct, and they are, the time you last had coitus would be the week prior to your birthday."

Penny let go of the doorknob and turned to face Sheldon fully. She started to ask how he knew, but decided against it. "Well...yeah, I guess."

"With that homo habilis with muscles growing on his muscles and a chin shaped like the back end of a baboon?"

"Back end of a..." Penny reeled back a little. "John happened to have a very cute dimple on his chin--"

"His name was Jake, not John, and he was a bouncer at that horrid little night club you used to frequent."

Penny wasn't able to resist. "How did you know all that?"

"Penny, Penny, Penny." Sheldon shook his head, almost humoring her. "This mind does not forget. I can even give you a complete list and description of all the men you had dated in the last several years, being as you can't seem to stop bringing them over and talking about them especially after they discarded you like yesterday's Chinese takeout."

Penny's jaw clenched, though she tried vehemently to deny it had anything to do with Sheldon's mentioning Chinese takeout. "And why exactly are we talking about my previous dates?"

"Oh, they're not the main topic of the conversation, although I had to mention them to bring across the point that you have had many suitors, yet none for the last six months. This has caused me great confusion because I cannot comprehend why someone as sexually attractive as yourself would have a hard time finding a man to satiate your needs, when you obviously had no difficulty in the past."

Penny did a double take, and once she managed to gather herself, she said, "Sheldon...did you just say I'm..._sexually attractive_?"

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to deny it." Sheldon said with a nonchalance that was both flattering and annoying. A strange combination, but that was the only way she could describe the tone he was using. "Your body is the perfect symmetry as is your face, and I seem to recall your blouses often riding up to show the flat of you abdomen, the exposure of which is rather pleasing to the senses. Your breasts are full, with the shadow of a cleavage showing in nearly everything you wear. The dress you are currently sporting accentuates the stated facts. Your backside as well is full, and follow through to tanned legs men would find themselves whistling to."

Her knees began to quiver. _Crap_, she thought. She WAS sexually frustrated, and Dr. Sheldon fucking Cooper was turning her on, when only minutes ago, he'd made her mad enough to want to gouge his eyes out.

"Penny...did I say anything inappropriate?"

"No," she answered, a little too eagerly than she would've liked, and found herself leaning back against the door. "Nothing inappropriate. I was just...surprised."

She saw him raise a brow, and it made her stomach jump. "You're surprised to hear me validate how visually stimulating you are when so many other men have expressed the same?"

_Visually stimulating?_ Oh, crap this was becoming too much, but she didn't want it to stop. She wanted more, even if her knees were just about ready to fold. "That's very sweet of you Sheldon...but you're just saying that because you're my friend."

"I'm not stating it because of the relationship that exists between us," Sheldon refuted, again with the same factual tone...but to Penny, it had since turned just a little...sexy. "I'm stating it because they are facts. You are sexually appealing to the eyes and should not have any problem looking for someone to satisfy your physical desires. And forgive my assumptions, but I believe that is what you had tried to do? Have you just recently arrived from a disastrous date which perhaps made you turn to Age of Conan?"

"I wasn't able to go on my date. I got a little...side-tracked." Penny lifted one of her knees, and used her feet to prop herself against the door while crossing her arms over her breasts. She kept her eyes on Sheldon...and saw what she had been hoping to see.

He was checking her out. Boy, was he checking her out, and it took superhuman strength to pretend not to notice the way he'd licked his lips as his eyes moved over her face, the sharpened crease between her breasts, and her one exposed leg. The heat of his gaze was so intense, she actually felt her own face grow warm.

She saw Sheldon swallow, but his eyes remained on her. All over her. "And...this date of yours whom you stood up. Am I to assume he is...the typical testosterone-addled male which females would turn to in their moments of sexual hunger?"

Penny began breathing heavily. She'd learned, through the years, to understand Sheldon's language, but it had never occurred to her how it could actually have the effect of dirty talk.

"I suppose." She shrugged, and wished one strap of her dress would just fall off her shoulders without her appearing to have done it on purpose. "But maybe that's why I stood him up. He was...as you said, typical. Very easy. Having sex with someone who is begging for it doesn't provide enough...challenge. In fact, it's pathetic."

She must've said something right, because the next thing she heard was Sheldon's very heavy breathing, with little groans in between. She felt the smile bloom in her cheeks as she remembered the way he had held her on the couch. The way he'd made out with her in her dreams. The way he was looking at her now, in much the same way other men did.

But this was different. This was Dr. Sheldon Cooper. The man she'd been attracted to since day one, and would've continued to be attracted to if not for his idiosyncrasies. It took her years to adapt to that and now, he was back to being the Sheldon Cooper she had first met, but then some. He was cute...no, he was handsome...and so unconsciously sexy. He was a bazillion times smarter than her yet he treated her with more respect than any other men in her life (in his own Sheldon-y way of course). He never lied to her. He'd never subjected himself to her every whim like Leonard did. He was always there for her when she needed him...like the time she and Leonard decided to call it off. He'd been a good...no, a wonderful friend to her despite his flaws, but right now, he wasn't looking at her a friend would…or should.

But heck, she wasn't looking at him like a friend either.

"So...you're saying..." Again, Sheldon licked his lips. Penny found herself licking hers as well, and was shocked by the taste of his sweat. She'd almost forgotten she had kissed him earlier. "You're saying that you'd rather there be challenges in your sexual conquests? To perhaps, prove your strength?"

"Right as always, Dr. Cooper." Penny moved herself away from the door and slowly began to catwalk her way to Sheldon's bed. "And there's actually this one man whom I can't seem to...get to knuckle under me. He's been...I suppose, my biggest challenge through the years, and I am on the verge of giving him up. But perhaps...you could change my mind, Dr. Cooper?"

"Penny, get out of my room."

Penny snapped out of her spell and blinked at Sheldon. His face was twisted with rage, and his blue eyes were shooting sparks. "What?"

"Get out, now!"

Without a word, Penny turned and fled the room, not caring if she caused a racket in the apartment until she finally got inside 4B. Once she did, she slammed the door and slid to the floor, her face in her hands.

The image of Sheldon's livid face as he yelled for her to get out appeared before her eyes, and she buried her face even deeper in her palms. She was feeling a myriad of emotions, and aroused was no longer one of them.

She felt deflated...angry...humiliated.

And as much as she didn't want to, she felt hurt.

Sheldon fucking Cooper had turned her on, and then bruised her ego.

He wasn't so different from any other men she'd dated after all.

Except he'd skipped the part of having sex with her before he bruised her ego, and right now, she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

She had to remind herself she wasn't dating him. She never had.

She took a deep breath and blinked her tears away. She remembered the Jack Daniels tucked away in one of the many kitchen cabinets, and she stood up. But instead of hunting down the liquor, she headed straight for her laptop, and after one last sniffle, went back to leveling up her avatar.

An hour later, the door to 4A opened and closed without attracting notice. The footfalls were barely audible in the stairway as Sheldon made his way to the laundry room, laundry basket in hand. Once there, he dumped the sheets and his Sunday pajamas in the machine, careful to use just the right amount of water and detergent before turning the dial.

He'd chosen this specific time so he could wear his Monday pajamas, though he knew waiting another hour before washing had caused the stain to dry, and he hoped it wouldn't create any permanent damage.

He'd have to do research on that. Things like these just didn't happen to him.

Sheldon watched the sheets and pajamas roll inside the washer, and he imagined his insides weren't far from doing the same repetitive action.

He hadn't lied when he told Penny he'd sullied his pajama bottoms.

What he did lie about was the grape juice.

He suddenly found himself gripping either side of the machine as his mind raced back to what had transpired in his room. He hadn't anticipated her coming in like that, nor had he expected himself to talk to her that way. But what shocked him the most was how she'd responded positively to those advances.

His verbal advances.

And it had scared him. Frightened him in much the same way that character, Tun, had been frightened of Natre, but for totally different reasons.

It frightened him because he had never felt such a carnal need to possess someone. And he didn't want it to be Penny.

He didn't want to hurt Penny.

And then, the smell of it. Of detergent and fabric softener. Reminders of Penny in the laundry room the first time she'd come down to talk to him about Leonard. Of Penny heinously dumping the detergent despite his instructions. Penny at the door of the laundry room, taunting him as he looked obtusely at the occupied washers. The softness of Penny's undergarments between his fingers, no doubt from the fabric softener she had carelessly yet thoroughly used, as he calculated the right strength, speed and angle before throwing her brassiere and landing it perfectly on the telephone wires.

The smell of Penny. Everywhere in the room. Detergent and Fabric Softener.

Penny...all of it, Penny...

The craving began to hammer through him again, and he soon found himself thankful he still had a pair of emergency pajamas, because there was nothing he could do to stop his hand from reaching down to betray him once more.

Nothing he could do stop himself from conjuring an image of Penny while he did it.

A/N: Sexy and angsty? I don't know if this had ever been done before so I just gave it a go ^_^ This chapter actually came about while I was watching TBS with my kink goggles on. What IF indeed, it had never been grape juice that Sheldon had spilled on his Monday PJs? LOL!!

And to babebubeboink99, I told you you hit a lil too close to the mark ^_^

Teasers for the next chapter? Diagnosis.


	8. Chapter 8

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"  
**Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy  
**Rating:** PG  
**Chapters:** 8/(?)  
**Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...  
**Summary: **There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
**A/N:** Sorry for the incorrect medical stuff and whatnot, I only did very little research on this. Also, if you're expecting some hot stuff, don't :P See the rating? This chapter has to be written to move the story forward. Oh, and remember the teaser: Diagnosis. Big thanks again to **gemsile123**and **life_coveter**for their thorough beta!

**Previous Chapters:**

Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 // Chapter 6 // Chapter 7

**Chapter 8**

"I want a second opinion."

"You can try to get all the second opinions you want, but with your history in this hospital, I doubt you'd be able to get any of the doctors to re-diagnose you. Why can't you just take my word for it and believe me when I say there is nothing wrong with you?"

"I can't take your word for it because there IS something wrong with me."

"Sheldon, there's nothing wrong with you. All those symptoms you mentioned are normal for a man your age. Frankly, you ought to be more concerned if you don't feel arousal. Erectile dysfunction is a symptom of a disease, and with what you've told me, everything seems to be working fine in that department."

"You don't understand. I don't...I'm not supposed to feel these things."

"Sheldon, you're a healthy, grown man. We've done all possible tests. Even that CAT scan was unnecessary, but we did it. And you're fine. What you need to do is get some."

"Get some what? What type of medicine do I need? You haven't even given me a prescription."

"Because you're not sick. And what I meant was, you need to get...you know."

"No, I don't know."

"You need to have sex."

"...oh, now you're just making things up."

"Fine, then masturbate."

"I did. Several times but it's not helping. In fact, it's making things worse and I can't seem to stop."

"Oh, for God's sake. Sheldon, I don't have time for this. I have a lot of patients to see."

"Yes, and I'm one of them. As a doctor, you should provide each and every single one of your patients the same amount of attention, more so the ones terribly afflicted by an unknown illness."

"Your illness isn't unknown, Sheldon. It's what normal people would call horniness. Your libido's off the charts because, if I'm to believe your medical history, you have never had sex. It's not just women who have biological clocks, you know."

"But I'm not just any homo sapien male. These things don't happen to me. I'm a homo novus. I'm--"

"If you don't want it, then take as many cold showers as possible. I have to go."

Dr. Stephanie Barnett walked as quickly as she could from outpatient care and away from Dr. Sheldon Cooper. She'd always known him to be nuts, but this was the craziest she'd seen of him. Sure, he'd been over to the hospital a number of times, and she'd always managed to avoid him. She wasn't obliged to look at him, since that thing with her and Leonard had been over for several years. This time around, she had had no choice, and in fact, had to be the one to approach Sheldon when he arrived.

She hesitated by her office door. She knew a certain someone was waiting for her, and she really wasn't looking forward to it but she'd done her job. It was time to get it over with.

She opened the door and locked it before turning to face Dr. Leslie Winkle, who was sitting leisurely on a chair beside her desk.

"I did it," Stephanie said with a grimace. "I sent him away like you told me to."

"Good. And the results?"

"I changed it, but I have the originals." Stephanie walked to her desk and gave Leslie a manila envelope. "Whatever you gave him spiked up his testosterone, oxytocin, serotonin and vasopressin levels. I had a hard time detecting the chemicals used though."

"That's because I used a naturally occurring compound that has proven untraceable," Leslie replied in a bored tone, her eyes perusing through the contents of the folder until she found a paper that made her smile. "You got a transcription of his symptoms. Excellent."

"He wouldn't stop talking about it," Stephanie muttered, and sat back on her chair. "You do realize I might lose my job for this?"

"The administration discovering you had left an earring inside a very esteemed and distinguished member of the scientific community is what's going to make you lose your job, Dr. Barnett," Leslie reminded, and put the papers back in the envelope before beaming a self-satisfied smile towards Stephanie. "Not to mention you would be financially crippled with attorney fees if I happen to decide to sue you on my father's behalf. That earring nearly cost him his life but lucky for you, it has been removed...and kept as evidence."

Again, Stephanie grimaced. "I did what you asked. When are you going to let me off the hook?"

"As per contract, that would be as soon as I've reached the desired results of my experiments."

"And what would be those desired results?"

"That matter is classified," Leslie said coolly, and without saying goodbye, turned and left Dr. Barnett to her own musings.

"I have everything else here. Are you done reading through the transcript of symptoms?"

...

"Yes, I know. I was confused at first until I saw the brain and CAT scans."

...

"I had Dr. Barnett sign a secrecy agreement, so don't worry. I have the bitch on a leash."

...

"Yeah, well I don't like her. Can you blame me?"

...

"That's all the more reason not to like her. You've already looked at the slides?"

...

"For the brain scan, there is a lot of activity with his oxytocin, vasopressin and serotonin receptors. This backs up the blood tests, where it shows increased levels of testosterone and the aforementioned hormones, which explains the subject's increased irritability, aggressiveness, and sexual desire. Now, these results would've been normal for a male entering puberty, so I guess you can say Dr. Dumbass is a late bloomer."

...

"Sometimes you need a little science to push you forward. I'd even go so far as to say I've helped him...which you will not hear from me again, by the way."

...

"Yes, the CAT scan. It's showing some fascinating images, particularly in the nasal region."

...

"I believe so. I never took it into consideration. It's a vestigial organ, but apparently, the formula..."

...

"Exactly. But in order to prove my hypothesis, I'll need a sample."

...

"That'll do fine. Make sure you have it in a zip lock bag."

...

"If indeed my hypothesis is proven true, then of course it would make things a lot easier. And you'd have to seal your end of the deal, got it?"

...

"Oh, I will. You'll see...you'll see..."

***

Ramona closed her flip phone and stared at the mirror. She'd just spoken with Dr. Winkle about the ongoing experiments but unlike days ago, she didn't flip out on the doctor. There'd been hiccups, yes, and yes, to _those_, she had completely flipped out.

But right now, she had an ace in her hands.

She'd stayed in the cafeteria that day Dr. Cooper sent her away from his table.

She'd stayed out of sight, but close enough to hear their conversation.

And she'd seen everything. The dilated pupils, the sweat proliferation, the erratic breathing, the loss of motor control...the erection.

All that had been brought upon by a single name.

Penny.

That had sent her into a fit of rage, though she'd kept it in the confines of her apartment. And just as she had been about to throw one of the many picture frames she had of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, she saw something in the mirror.

She had seen herself...her long, lustrous red hair...in a different light.

Ramona smiled at her reflection and re-arranged her hair until it resembled one of the Polaroid shots she had spread out on her dresser. She would need a curling iron for some of them, but other than that, she'd say her hairstyle was almost identical to the pictures. But there was still one more thing missing.

It was time to do her own little experiment.

And it was going to start with a trip to the hair salon.

**A/N:** Oh goodness...I don't know about you guys, but writing Ramona's little scene here freaked me out...maybe because I know what's gonna happen next. LOL! She's fun to write but she's scary as hell 0_0 And you want something even scarier? Try listening to the chorus of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" and imagine Ramona *shudders*  
And yes, I took advantage of the CANON fact that Stephanie left an earring inside some guy on the operating table.  
Teasers? _Cold showers can be bad for your health_.


	9. Chapter 9

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"  
**Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy  
**Rating:** R  
**Chapters:** 9/(?)  
**Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...  
**Summary:**There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...  
**Disclaimer:**I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
**A/N:** WOOOT! R Rating! Haha! Some characters might be a little....well, out of character at this point, but I hope it works.  
And I think it's time for a little...something. Again, thanks to **life_coveter** and **gemsile123** for their beta :D

**Chapter 9**

Penny took her time putting on her Cheesecake Factory uniform. She had again, woken up a little too early despite sleeping so late. She hadn't been sleeping well since that ill-fated Sunday night in Sheldon's room, and she had taken great pains not to see him. Waking up and going off to work early was easy enough, despite her lack of sleep. Declining Leonard's invites to the apartment was a little tougher, but manageable especially since it was obvious Sheldon was avoiding her as well. She certainly hadn't so much as gotten a glimpse of him, and for Sheldon 'This-is-my-world-and-you-just-live-in-it' Cooper, that was saying a lot. The last she'd heard from Leonard was that he'd taken a side trip to the hospital on Monday, and had been taking long and frequent bathroom breaks.

She grabbed her bag and headed out the door. It was Wednesday now. A week after that one Halo Night, but no, she wouldn't be joining them for the game tonight. She still wasn't sure how to...interact with Sheldon after what happened.

The door to Apartment 4A opened and closed. She felt her heart stop for just the briefest of moments but when she saw it was only Leonard, she sighed with relief. "Leonard, what are you doing out so early? I thought work didn't start 'til--"

"Shhh!" Leonard put a finger on his lips, and shocked Penny when he grabbed her hand and dragged her down the stairs.

"Leonard! What's going--"

"Sheldon's sick," Leonard hissed, and continued to drag her down, but she managed to grab the steel railing on the wall and pulled her hand away before they could land on the third floor.

"Sick?" she repeated. "Since when?"

"Last night. He's been taking one too many cold showers. Now, come on." Leonard made a grab for her hand again but she pulled it away. "What? Don't tell me you're staying? Remember what happened last time?"

Penny glared at Leonard. Of course she remembered. That was one of the biggest hells she has had to go through, but for some reason, she couldn't voice it. She looked up at the stairs again and bit her lip.

"Penny?"

She turned to Leonard. "How sick is he? What kind of sick?"

"A slight fever and some sniffles, but you know Sheldon. He'll make it worse than it actually is. He should be better by tonight." Leonard tilted his head a little. "Are you...thinking of staying?"

Penny quickly shook her head. "No. Let's get out of here."

She wondered why her feet felt like lead as she followed Leonard down the stairs.

***

Penny flitted from table to table, taking and bringing orders, but her eyes would mostly flit back to the clock. It was almost noon, but it felt like she had been at work for the whole day. Not that it was a busy shift. But knowing Sheldon was sick made her anxious. In fact, it made her more anxious knowing there was no one at home to take care of him. The boys would be no help. They're obviously hiding at work, the cowards…

But wasn't she doing the same thing?

She shook her head and walked over to the next set of diners with a smile. _Sheldon is a big boy_, she thought...and then blushed.

Scratch that! Sheldon was a _grown_ man. He should be able to take care of himself. Besides, he had a whole freakin' pharmacy in his room, so medicine wouldn't be a problem for him.

Those thoughts barely provided her with any comfort.

With a sigh, she walked over to the counter to distribute the next batch of orders when she noticed one of the waitresses talking on the phone, looking as though she was about to cry.

"Nancy?" Penny approached the young brunette. "Nancy, are you alright?"

Nancy put a hand over the mouthpiece and actually sobbed. "I've been on the phone with this guy for almost fifteen minutes. He has...so many demands about how he wants his soup, I can't keep up. He's been telling me to repeat it but I..."

Penny grabbed the phone and pressed it to her ear.

Nancy's explanation had been enough, and the voice she heard on the other line only backed up her suspicions.

"I have a good mind to talk to your manager about your incompetence. That includes their incompetence as well for..." A sniffle. "...for even considering you for employment. Now let's start o--"

"Sheldon."

Silence. Then, a soft, "Penny?"

"Even on the phone you managed to make our waitresses cry." Penny tried to make her voice strict, but the weakness in Sheldon's tone softened her a bit, and she began to worry again. "Sheldon, are you alright?"

"Penny, I have a temperature of 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit, and have had three unpredictable bouts of chills. Do you think I'm alright?"

Penny's hands tightened on the receiver. "Leonard told me it was just a slight fever."

"Leonard knew I was sick?" Sheldon's voice cracked a little. "How come he left? He shouldn't have left me here. I've been trying to call him and the others. Where are they?"

Penny pressed her lips together, one finger beginning to toy with the telephone wire. He sounded so lost, and she remembered him telling her about the time he had been sick and alone in Germany.

Still, there was one thought that disturbed her. "Sheldon, you called the restaurant but you didn't look for me."

She'd meant it to come out exactly the way it did: a statement. But she didn't expect it to come out as a semi-accusation.

There was a moment of silence before Sheldon's voice came back on. "I...didn't think you'd want to talk to me after...after last Sunday."

Something in his voice...the insecurity...the fear in it...brought a surge of feeling in Penny's chest. In his own way, Sheldon had admitted to hurting her. It wasn't an apology, but it felt like a start.

Part of her still wanted him to verbally admit it; to ask him exactly what was it about last Sunday that made him think she wouldn't want to speak to him again, but instead, she asked, "Do you want me to come home and take care of you?"

"I'd rather you don't."

She frowned. She hadn't expected that. "Why?"

"I..." A moment of silence. "I don't want to impose on you. Please just..." He was moaning, and Penny's heart hammered in her chest.

"Sheldon? Sheldon, what's wrong?"

"I...I can't...just have any kind of soup delivered."

The line went dead, and Penny listened to the silence for almost a full minute before cradling the receiver.

She didn't submit an order for soup. Instead, she got herself the rest of the day off by promising her manager a double shift for tomorrow, and dialed Mary Cooper's number as she walked towards her car.

***

Penny continued to spoon-feed Sheldon with the split pea soup, occasionally wiping his lips with a napkin. He still looked agitated that she made him wear his Saturday pajamas, but then she wouldn't have had to if she hadn't found him sprawled on the bathroom floor, soaked under the shower in his Wednesday pajamas.

He still didn't have much of an explanation about that.

She took another spoonful and raised it to his lips, but he turned his head away.

"Sweetie, you have to eat." She tried again, but he kept his lips sealed. Then, with a smile, she added, "Choo-choo."

She saw his lips quiver, and finally part to take the spoonful of soup in. She managed to stifle a giggle as she wiped his lips, but when she started for another spoonful, he shook his head.

"That would be...the last, Penny. I can't...stomach more."

She looked down and absentmindedly stirred the half-empty bowl of soup. "Sheldon...I know this isn't as good as your mom's, and the croutons aren't homemade but--"

"The quality of the soup...is adequate, but I...haven't the appetite. Please...do not take my rejection out of context."

This made her look up at him, and what she saw in his blue eyes made her heart pound. She sensed there was an underlying meaning in his words...as though he was begging her to understand something else but she reluctantly brushed it away. After all, she had misinterpreted his actions a few nights ago.

She put the tray back on the nightstand and pressed the back of her hand against his neck. She managed to ignore his moan. "Your temperature's gone down from a couple of hours ago. I think you're going to be fine, sweetie."

She would've pulled her hand away if Sheldon hadn't held it in place, and she felt the breath stolen from her when she felt his fingers, soft and warm, against her palm. "Penny...why are you...being so kind to me?"

She failed miserably at keeping her smile steady. "Sweetie, I'm your friend. It's a...non-optional social convention to take care of friends whenever they're sick."

"But neither Leonard...Raj...nor Howard are currently present," he muttered. "So...if I'm to believe your statement, then they are not my friends."

"Honey, I didn't mean it that way. They're your friends, but I'm..." She paused. What was she going to say? What should she say?

"What are you to me, Penny?" Sheldon questioned, and Penny had to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. "You took time off of work...and made me the split pea soup with little frankfurter slices...and ho...croutons. You spoon-fed me, made sure I took my medicine, monitored my temperature, and...have essentially not left my side. Apart from my mother, no one else...has done this for me. And as you...are neither my mother nor...a member of my genetic unit...what are you to me?"

Penny pulled her hand away, because it was all becoming too much. He was the man with the IQ pushing 200. If he didn't have the answer, how could he expect her to have it?

She plastered a smile on her face and pulled the comforter up his neck. "That's just the fever talking, honey. Get some sleep. I'll be in the living room."

"Febrile delirium. Right." He nodded softly, then whispered. "Thank you, Penny..."

"You're welcome, sweetie." With an even wider smile, she leaned down and kissed his forehead. She didn't know why she did it, but it felt...right. Like when he last helped her with Age of Conan. What didn't feel right was how difficult it was to pull away.

She paused midway from sitting up, her face hovering above Sheldon's. Her deep breaths were mingling with his warm, soft ones, and his eyes, red-rimmed but blue, would not release her gaze, and she began to doubt she wanted them to. She heard nothing but their synchronized breathing, and the pounding of her blood against her ears.

Then, Sheldon reached up and ran an overtly warm hand against her cheek. She was startled at first, but she soon began to close her eyes, and she sighed almost gratefully, especially when his fingers moved up to comb her hair and cup the back of her head.

Before she could take her next breath, Sheldon yanked her down and crushed his lips against hers.

Penny's eyes widened. Sheldon's hand was pressing harder at the back of her head, pushing her lips further against his. Too late, she noticed his other hand snaking its way around her waist, dragging her into bed with him, her body sprawling on top of his.

She was too shocked to move. Her mind hadn't registered what was happening until she felt him part her lips with his and slip his hot, damp tongue inside her mouth, his hands pawing at her uniform.

"Shel--"

He tasted of split pea soup. And medicine. It was an unpleasant combination, but his tongue was persistent in its invasion, curling and rolling over and under hers, his face moving so quickly at different angles, it was impossible to keep up.

She tried to turn her head away but his lips would not leave hers. She couldn't even gasp when she felt his hands squeeze her ass and pull her hips to him.

Then, she felt it. Despite their clothes and the thick comforter between them, she'd felt him, hard and ready, and as he continued to devour her mouth and grope at her thighs, he began bucking his hips upward.

It was the feel of his erection bumping against her groin that shocked her into a muffled but loud enough moan, making Sheldon freeze. She held her breath and waited...for what, she wasn't sure, but the next thing she knew, Sheldon had let her go and shifted to the far side of the bed before curling himself into a fetal position.

It was a while before Penny even gathered the strength or the will to sit up. "Sheldon..."

"Go away, Penny."

Penny pulled back the hand she had reached out to touch his shoulder with. He was using that same tone with her on that one Sunday night, but this time, it didn't hurt her...as much as it made her feel for what was happening to him. "Shel--"

"If you do not wish to be victimized once more by my febrile delirium, then go away!"

She winced and lifted herself off the bed. She didn't stop looking at him, curled up and clutching his comforter, as she backed up until she felt the door behind her. "If you need me--"

"I don't. Lock the door and leave."

Penny obliged, but she took her time doing it. Then, she let herself out of his room, and as soon as she heard the door click shut, she leaned forward and pressed her forehead against it.

She drew out long, deep breaths to calm her nerves. She wasn't sure what to make of what had happened, and her forehead remained pressed against the door as she traced her lips with her fingertips.

Gathering herself, she started out of the apartment, uncertain if her legs would be able to carry her after the shock of Sheldon's attack.

That's what it was. An _attack_. At that point however, she still couldn't define her emotions towards it.

She stepped out of 4A, and saw, to her surprise, Leonard Hofstadter, standing in the hallway.

"Leonard…what are you doing home from work?"

"M-Me?" The look on his face told her he hadn't been expecting her either. "What are you doing home from work?"

"I took care of Sheldon," Penny muttered, furious that she couldn't stop herself from blushing. "He…called me at the restaurant and wouldn't hang up unless I come home."

Leonard breathed out a soft "huh", and Penny's temper suddenly flared. "What? You think I'm lying?"

"Wh—wha…I didn't say that."

Penny waved a hand to dismiss the subject. "What are you doing here, Leonard?"

"I…left some research papers…" He dropped his gaze and shuffled his feet. "I was hoping I could…get it without waking Sheldon…"

"Right. Just like the last time you tried to retrieve your spare glasses. No cameras and high-tech gadgets this time?"

Her sarcasm clearly wasn't lost to Leonard, who looked up at her with a wrinkled forehead. "Penny…did something happen?"

She tried to say 'No.' She tried to keep her voice steady and her face impassive, but tears came before words, and she found herself sobbing in the hallway while furiously wiping her cheeks.

Leonard stared at her for one awkward moment before taking a handkerchief from his pocket and handing it to her. She took it and smiled gratefully as she dried her eyes. Leonard had always been a sweet guy, but…the spark was just never there, and she had never cried this much for Leonard. Not since Kurt had she cried this much, and she even thought this was much worse because she couldn't tell anyone. How could she? And even if she could, how could she begin to explain it?

She sobbed again, and Leonard plucked the handkerchief away from her fingers before wrapping his arms around her.

This, she thought, was what she had always needed Leonard for: a friend. A shoulder to lean on, and that's what she ended up doing—leaning into his shoulder and burying her cries. No words were spoken, but she knew he understood and felt her pain, and this smallest of comforts would be enough for now.

The door behind her opened. Penny lifted her head and turned, only to see Sheldon, wrapped up in his comforter, his eyes wide, and his face red and contorted as he stared…no, glared at her. And Leonard.

She pulled herself away from Leonard's arms. "Sheldon, I—"

The door was slammed in her face, and she felt herself move from shock to rage. Sheldon had never, not once, slammed the door in her face. Sure, she'd done that to him several times but…

Penny swallowed. Was this how it felt like? What Sheldon felt each time she did that? What he was feeling right now? But what reason could he have to be angry? Unless…

She took a breath and tried the knob. Sure enough, it was locked, and she cursed herself for having left her emergency keys inside. "Leonard, give me your keys."

No response. Penny turned, and frowned when she saw Leonard heading for the stairs. "Where are you going? Don't you have some research papers to get?"

Leonard paused. It was an ominous pause, his shoulders inward, and his fingers uncurled. Penny couldn't see his face with his back to her, but with the seriousness of his voice, she knew already what expression he was wearing. "Penny…I'm sorry, but I'd rather not be alone with Sheldon right now."

"Why?"

A shuffle of his sneakers. "Because the way he looked at me…he looked as though he was trying to blow my brains out with his mind."

In any other circumstance, Penny would've found Leonard's words either silly or funny. But this situation wasn't any of those things, so she simply watched in silence as he disappeared down the stairs before she retreated to the sanctuary of her own apartment.

The next morning, she taped a note on the door of 4A before hurrying off to work, already toting along a bagful of clothes.

_Boys,___

_Need to visit my folks for a while. Will text you later. Get my mail for me, 'kay?_

_Love,_

_Penny _

_PS._

_Leonard, make sure Sheldon gets some soup. Has to be split pea, with little frankfurter slices and croutons (homemade if possible). Recipe at the back. Call his mom for help if needed. And if he asks, sing Soft Kitty to him. Lyrics at the back as well, he'll teach you how._

**A/N:** Teaser for the next chapter? Psycho 0_0


	10. Chapter 10

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"**  
Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy**  
Rating:** PG**  
Chapters:** 10/(?)**  
Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...**  
Summary: **There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...**  
Disclaimer:**I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
**A/N:** Check the rating so don't expect to be gnawing on your sheets LOL. Again, this chapter HAS to be written, so don't kill me until I've finished this fic ^_^

**Chapter 10**

_Ten months ago…_

"Going once...going twice..."

He grimaced and held up his hand, and the host excitedly acknowledged his wager.

A hand other than his own rose, and he grimaced. The price kept climbing, but he had to get this. He had to win, even if it would cost him quite possibly several months' worth of new comic books and action figures. These were but one of the two annual occasions he would be able to acquire the item. He couldn't wait another 365 days, when time constraints allotted him only four more months.

Again, he raised his hand and was acknowledged, the host clamoring for any possible takers. Now, he had never been a religious man, despite his growing up with a devout mother; but he did something that day that was akin to a prayer, even though he knew, from previous calculations and tactics applied, he would win.

"Going once...going twice..."

He shut his eyes, his hands curling on his lap.

"Sold, to the gentlemen in the Spock costume!"

Sheldon breathed a heavy sigh and managed to compose himself as he walked up to the podium, ignoring the stares and glares of the women around him--them, in their chic, expensive, at times garish human clothes and lugging along their bug-eyed, pouting offspring with pigtails, and he, the Vulcan in blue. He ignored them the way he dismissed the fact that this item which had cost him much would be of no real use to him, and more likely than not, would be taken out of the box, diminishing whatever collector's value it had. Yet he handed over a check with barely any hesitation, and made thorough arrangements for the shipment of the purchase.

Four months later, he would take it out of its hiding place and carry it across the hall.

Four months later would be a whole new beginning...

***

Leonard traversed through the lunchtime traffic in the university cafeteria until he found his way to his and his friends' usual table. Raj and Howard were in a heated discussion while Sheldon sat with his head down, the sandwich on his plate untouched.

It wasn't until Leonard got closer that he realized Sheldon was actually sleeping.

"I wouldn't wake him if I were you, dude," Raj warned in a half-whisper. "He's been a complete ass all morning."

"That fever must've short-circuited his processor." Howard smirked at Leonard while tracing several circles by his head with a finger. "I take it from the bungee cord welts Sheldon had earlier that you didn't drive him to work?"

"He woke up before I did," Leonard muttered and set his tray down, his eyes on Sheldon's swaying form. "I need to talk to him."

"Don't!"

"Sheldon!"

"Danger! Danger!"

Raj and Howard groaned at the same time. Leonard waited for Sheldon to orient himself, but he was quick to look away once he saw Leonard, the surprise on his face rapidly turning into a look of utmost contempt.

Leonard took a seat. "Sheldon, are you all right?"

He waited for a response, but all he got was a small snort and one very cold shoulder.

Howard provided the explanation. "Sheldon has chosen to treat you as though you were one of the dead, as in the phrase 'you are dead to me'." He grinned. "Ring any bells?"

"Oh, come on," Leonard whined. "That's just stupid and immature."

Sheldon snapped his head up to Raj and Howard. "Did anyone else detect a change in the temperature and wind direction?"

"Cold breeze," Howard supplied again. "A widely-accepted indicator of ectoplasmic activity popular among—"

"Howard, I know." Leonard cut in, then faced Sheldon again. "But the 'you're dead to me' scenario only works if a friend steals a friend's girl. Did I do that, Sheldon?"

"No!"

Leonard almost failed at hiding a smirk when Sheldon reacted, and he could almost hear his roommate's inaudible curse. "Then, why are you so mad at me?"

"Well, you…" Sheldon's face twisted a bit. "You left me alone when I was sick."

"You weren't alone." Leonard reminded. "You called Penny at work and got her to come home and take care of you."

"I did no such thing," Sheldon refuted with a deep blush. "I was merely ordering soup when she came on the phone. She was the one who insisted she come home and tend to me; not the other way around."

Leonard's brows met. He could feel the circus in his stomach starting to attract crowds. "So…she _willingly _came home to take care of you?"

Sheldon returned the frown. "She told you I _forced_ her to take care of me?"

"Um…dudes. You, uh…wanna catch us up here?"

Leonard ignored Raj. "Did you see the note she left?"

"Well, it was taped conspicuously to the door," Sheldon huffed, then after a moment's pause, picked up his bread knife and began slicing his sandwich.

Leonard poked at his potato salad. "How long do you think she'll stay in Nebraska?"

Sheldon didn't answer, but this did start a stream of inquiries from Raj and Howard.

Before Leonard could reply, he caught a glimpse of a familiar blonde girl closing in on their table. She was wearing the orange blouse, skin-tight black jeans and brown velvet boots he'd seen her wear before, and he quickly turned his body to face her fully. "Penny, what on earth are you doing—"

The words fell back into the abyss of Leonard's throat.

It wasn't Penny. The smile on the girl's face was nothing like his ex-girlfriend's soft, adorable flash of teeth.

This girl's grin was reminiscent to Harley Quinn's. Or Poison Ivy's.

"Hello, Dr. Cooper. Having a good lunch?"

Sheldon rolled his eyes and turned to face the girl, only to have his annoyance fade to what Leonard knew was shock. "R…Ramona?"

"Like my new look?" Ramona flipped her straight blond hair from side to side, the light catching each chemically-enhanced golden strand to perfection. "I just got tired of lil' ol' me. What do you think of the new me?"

By God, she was even talking like Penny, and Leonard felt himself shudder. He chanced a look at Raj and Howard, and found they had, like last time, turned into stone.

"It's…" Sheldon's eyes had taken on a glazed, far away look. "It's sufficient."

"Sufficient?" Ramona pouted. Leonard detected a hint of gloss on her lips. "Oh, come on, Dr. Cooper. You can do better than that."

"I suppose it's more than sufficient," Sheldon replied in a steady voice, though Leonard noticed Sheldon's eyes had not left Ramona. "Do you wish to tell me something?"

Ramona giggled and put a hand on Sheldon's shoulder. Leonard didn't see him flinch. "I was hoping you would be free tomorrow night. I know this great little Italian place. I asked and they said we can even ask for four-tined forks instead of three. They—"

"Yes."

Leonard snapped his head at Sheldon. From the corner of his eye, he could see Raj and Howard's jaws hanging open, but he knew, from the look on her face, that no one was more surprised than Ramona.

"Yes?" she repeated shakily, her eyes wide and almost crazed. "As in yes, you're agreeing to go on a date—I mean, to dine alone with me so we can discuss matters of scientific importance and perhaps also share more about our personal lives over wine, pasta and music?"

"Yes, Ramona. I am accepting your invitation," Sheldon nodded, his eyes still glued to the grad student, who seemed to be having a difficult time muffling her squeals. "What time should we leave?"

"Seven o' clock sharp. I know you don't drive, but don't worry, I do. And…I've already made reservations." She beamed. Leonard shivered when he saw her fingers literally make a catwalk from Sheldon's shoulder before landing on his neck. It took only a moment for Leonard to remember what Ramona had traced last time. "So….I'll pick you up then, 'kay?"

"Certainly. Thank you, Ramona."

"No, Dr. Cooper. Thank _you_." With a wink, Ramona flipped her new hair to one side and walked…no, skipped away and out of the cafeteria.

Howard spoke first. "What the frak was that, Sheldon?"

"What was what?" Sheldon questioned without looking, though Leonard noticed something strange in Sheldon's tone. He didn't sound…_clueless_.

"Dude, you just totally agreed to go on a date with Ramona!" Raj declared, waving his arms in the air before narrowing his eyes. "Are you still running a fever? Because I think you're totally delirious."

"My temperature has been at a normal 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit since 19:28 yesterday, and despite my obvious display of lethargy, I am actually almost at optimum efficiency. So no, I am not delirious."

Leonard made a mental note of how hard Sheldon was slicing his sandwich.

"If you're not delirious, then you've gone completely insane." Howard again made circles by his temple with his forefinger. "Any other girl, I might've thought you'd just suffered a temporary loss of sanity, but this is Ramona Psycho Nowitzki we're talking about!"

Sheldon snorted, but still didn't look up from his sandwich. "And this, coming from the men who said I was insane for ignoring Ramona's previous sexual advances."

"Sexual advances?" Leonard finally spoke. "So you…you know what she's up to?"

"She certainly made use of her old tactic of writing the letters S-E-X on my neck." Sheldon ate his sandwich like a shark chewing on a bag of meat, and Leonard suddenly felt sick.

"Sheldon…are you saying you're…you're going to have sex with Ramona?"

It was as if all the chatter in the cafeteria died out as the three scientists waited for an answer.

After one languorous swallow, Sheldon shrugged. "I just…feel like being pathetic today."

Leonard felt as though the circus acrobats in his stomach had encountered a very fatal flaw in their routine. He wanted to ask Sheldon if it was because Ramona had essentially turned herself into a Penny clone. Or if this had something to do with hugging Penny in the hallway. But he couldn't ask any of those, and the reasons went beyond the fact Raj and Howard had made a 180 degree turn from their previous disposition, and were piling Sheldon with questions, mostly involving if he even knew how to perform, and would he like some advice?

Leonard sat back and ate in silence, struggling to find the right course of action to take.

He was still in the same train of indecision by the time he got off of work, his car tailing Ramona's as she gave Sheldon Cooper a ride home.

**A/N:** Don't kill me 0_0 If you do, you won't get to see the succeeding R-Rated chapter! But if it involves Penny and Sheldon remains to be seen…it could involve Ramona…

Yeowch! Who threw that shoe at me?!

Ehem. Again, I'd like to give thanks to gemsile123 and life_coveter for their betas ^_^ And also, to you dear readers, for your continued patronage of this fic! This is the longest I've written (and man I never expected it to be THIS long) and I believe this one has the most followers as well. Thank you for your kind comments! They are my cookies to finishing each and every single chapter so yes, I'm saying don't be shy, LOL! I hope you at least marginally enjoyed this chapter (I highly doubt it though), and I hope the scenes here have been ingrained well enough in your memories (besides the 'kill Ramona' chant which I seemed to be hearing with greater frequency now).

Hmm…I kinda feel like being evil. I kinda feel like…holding chapter 11 hostage and the ransom would be comments for this chapter.

Yeowch! Who threw that steel-toed boot?!

Teasers? I think I already gave you some :P *ducks away from flying shoes* Later guys! Mwah!


	11. Chapter 11

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"  
**Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy  
**Rating:** NC-17  
**Chapters:** 11/(?)  
**Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...  
**Summary: **There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...  
**Disclaimer:**I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
**A/N:** Okay, so we've had a lot of angst in the last few chapters. Not to mention flying shoes…and a bazooka (I'm still nursing my war wounds) but let's see if the next installment changes that. For this chapter, be warned. The rating is NC-17. I know what you're thinking, but like I said, you have been warned…

**Chapter 11**

_Ten months earlier…_

She watched with delight as the host slowly began to uncover the veiled item, and she imagined the other women and little girls around her were feeling just as excited as she was. She couldn't say the same though for her companion, who was a proverbial fish out of water in his blue spandex suit and prosthetic ear extensions.

She ignored his complaints and concentrated on the host's fingers. _Any minute_ she thought, _Any minute now_…

"Ladies and gentlemen, Hasbro presents to you…"

The veil was finally lifted, and the host's next words were drowned out by 'oohs' and gasps while camera flashes illuminated the booth.

Penny took out her digital camera and began clicking away, shoving elbows with anyone who dared take her spot near the booth. She had the perfect vantage point, and since this was possibly the only way she could gain possession of the item, she guarded her spot as vigorously as Sheldon did, and continued to take photo after photo.

"I can never understand why you take such delight in these useless playthings," Sheldon complained for what seemed like the thousandth time. "They're not even anatomically correct, nor can they exist in the realm of reality. Not to mention they wear such distastefully bright, and at times, ridiculous colors and patterns—"

"Oh, like your superhero action figures are any different," Penny fired back, elbowing a lady who tried to shove her away. She glared daggers at the woman and was again successful at defending her territory. "I don't complain or make fun of your toys, so leave me alone."

"They're not toys, they're collectibles, meaning they are not to be handled or played with, and in fact, should be kept in mint condition in order to preserve their collector's value. And I wasn't making fun of you. I was merely curious about why you like these things so much."

She looked at Sheldon then, and if it weren't for his silly Spock costume, which he had worn to this same event for several years in a row, he almost seemed serious. Still, the subject was something Penny was far too passionate for to ignore, and she ended up telling Sheldon about her childhood, of birthdays and Christmases, of what it was like growing up in a farm, surrounded by these magnificent creatures.

There were no more words after she finished, and after several clicks of the camera button and sighs at the astronomical price tag, Penny moved on to the next booth, barely giving Sheldon's sudden absence any thought as she browsed through all the photos in her camera.

It wouldn't be until four months later that she would learn where Sheldon had disappeared to at that year's Comic Con…

***

Penny craned her neck to peer over the shoulders in front her. She was still four people away from the ticket booth, and her feet were killing her. She'd just come from a tiring double-shift at work, and after changing clothes, had hurried to the bus station.

It hadn't been easy, with the traffic she encountered along the way, and the sheer number of people in the station. She'd been standing in line for almost half an hour now, tired, agitated and hungry. Definitely not a good combination.

_As if the encounter with Sheldon hadn't been a big enough problem already_, she thought with a grimace, and began tapping her foot impatiently.

She couldn't wait to go home. Now more than ever, she needed family. She needed her mom's pies, her dad's baseball talk (same old dad, still treating her like his li'l slugger), and even her sister's stream of complaints about her husband. She needed to get away from California. Away from Sheldon and the confusion he threw her in.

The line began to move again, and her heart quickened its pace. She reached for her cell phone, still debating on whether or not to tell her parents she was coming, but once she saw the number of texts and missed calls she had received from Leonard, she closed her flip phone.

_No_, she thought. It would be best if no one knew when she was coming. Or where she was going. That way, if she happened to change her mind…

And why would she change her mind? There was no way. She was going home and that was that.

She released an exasperated sigh when it was finally her turn. She rummaged her bag for her wallet but before she could fish it out, she caught glimpse of a little girl, walking hand in hand with her mother towards the waiting area. Tucked in the girl's arm was a stuffed animal Penny knew all too well, and she felt herself washed by a bout of nostalgia.

The first birthday present she could remember. The cuddles and hugs while Mommy read her bedtime stories. The birthdays and Christmases. The magnificent beasts galloping in their farm, Daddy's affectionate pats on their manes, the wind in her hair as she rode them into the sunset.

Then, there was Sheldon, handing her the box meticulously wrapped in Hello Kitty patterns.

Sheldon, watching her with what she could only describe as eagerness as she tore through the wrapper.

Sheldon, wincing when she let out an ear-splitting scream.

Sheldon, blushing and sputtering when she gave in to her emotions.

Sheldon.

"Miss? Do you want your tickets or not?"

Penny blinked at the ticket teller. She could hear the grumbles of other would-be passengers behind her, but it wasn't able to stop a smile from forming on her lips.

"No thanks." Penny picked up her bag, and with one last look at the little girl and her stuffed toy, she hurried to catch a cab back to the apartment.

***

Sheldon's eyes flew open, and he resisted the urge to pull his hair out. It was past ten. He had been trying to sleep for the longest time, all to no avail, and he couldn't pinpoint the source of his current sleep anomaly.

Or, more accurately, he didn't want to acknowledge it.

He turned to his side and saw, through the glow of his luminous fish, the small note Penny had taped to their door. Leonard, for some reason Sheldon couldn't reconcile with, had taken the note from the door after they'd arrived home from work and stuck it on the refrigerator. It irked Sheldon to no end, because it reminded him that he'd been the cause for Penny's departure. Of course, he couldn't tell Leonard that, so he'd simply kept quiet, and once Leonard had gone to bed, he'd snuck the note into his room with the full intent of crumpling or shredding it. But that hadn't happened. Instead, he'd spent a good while reading and re-reading it, especially the post script, and that was what he found himself doing again. For the thirty-seventh time.

He set the note back on the bedside table and rose from the bed. He needed to do something, anything to occupy him. To keep his mind away from Penny, from the fear in her voice, the shock in her face…the sweet taste of her lips, the curve of her body against his…

Dear Lord, he needed to keep his hands occupied with anything _other_ than what he was beginning to think of.

He marched out and flicked on the lights in the living room. His white board was full of necessary equations, so it would do no good to eliminate them to make room for another set. Leonard had taken to keeping his board in his room ever since Sheldon had begun using that as an alternative to his earlier dilemma. His laptop was sitting on the table, but after he had almost assimilated Wolowitz's habit of googling 'hot blondes' the day before yesterday, logging on to the internet was out of the question.

Clean, he thought. He'd clean, but groaned when he remembered that was exactly what he'd just done earlier. The apartment was immaculate, not a book out of place, not a DVD or comic book out of order. He wished he could say the same about Penny's apartment, but…

Penny.

4B.

Sheldon's hands curled into fists, and he soon found himself walking over to the bowl beside the door, then back to the middle of the living room, before moving back to the bowl again.

"Oh, of all the…" He stopped himself from cursing, and with a deep breath, took the emergency keys from the bowl and started across the hall.

He'd clean, he thought. That was all he was going to do. It wasn't as though he hadn't done it before. Besides, Penny wasn't in the apartment. She wouldn't have to know.

He opened the door to 4B and was almost relieved to find the mess. Unwashed dishes were piled on the kitchen sink. Magazines and DVDs lay on the coffee table like a mismatched jigsaw puzzle. Clothes were strewn all over the furniture along with empty bags of Cheetos, Doritos, and a tube of Pringles. How Penny could consume that much junk and calories while still maintaining a trim figure (without any notable form of exercise) both baffled and fascinated him.

He shook his head of unwanted thoughts and got his hands busy with cleaning. He purposefully kept the lights off, just like the last time, and opened the curtains wide to let the full moonlight in.

Half an hour later, he was done, but he knew there was still one place he needed to check. The one place he had been trying to avoid ever since he stepped inside the apartment: Penny's bedroom.

Again, he shook his head. He was just going to clean, that's all. Penny would appreciate it…or wouldn't, but why should he care? He just had to clean. He had to keep himself occupied. And perhaps this was one of the reasons for his sleep anomaly. It was just like last time. All he needed to do was clean every single spot in Penny's apartment; then he could finally sleep.

He steeled himself for a moment then strode towards the bedroom. He hadn't even stepped inside when memories assailed him like a punch in the stomach.

Penny, giving up her bed to him, albeit reluctantly, after he'd locked himself out of his apartment.

Penny, coming inside the room after he had called for her.

Penny, sitting on the bed beside him and singing 'Soft Kitty' when he'd asked her to.

Penny, smiling down at him after he'd thanked her for letting him stay.

He had felt himself swell with such an inexplicable mix of hormones at the time that he had quickly asked her to get out.

Then, he saw the shelf. On it, were a number of colorful toys he'd since become familiar with, but most prominently displayed on top was the only item, which was still in its box.

It was this which made him walk towards the shelf, and when he reached out to take it in his hands, he realized it was free of dust.

Six months on, it was still in mint condition.

Six months ago had been the start of something new…

That was how Penny found him, standing in the dim light before her shelf, staring at the box in his hands with what seemed like awe and delight. She'd arrived to find the door ajar, and one look at her spotless living room had told her Sheldon was in her apartment. It had unnerved her at first, but seeing him now with that look on his face made her heart swell with feeling.

"That one's special, you know," she said, and stifled a giggle when Sheldon spun around with a jolt, almost dropping the box. He'd reacted almost the same way during their first Christmas together, after she'd inadvertently made him aware he possessed Leonard Nimoy's DNA

Sheldon swallowed. "You…you're supposed to be in Nebraska."

"And you're supposed to be in your room," Penny retorted. She wanted to step closer, but remembered what Mary Cooper had taught her when it came to Sheldon. He still looked as though he were about to flee. "I uh…missed my bus. Are you okay now?"

"Yes…although I fear I may be suffering from a touch of insomnia." Sheldon's eyes began to roam across the room, and Penny knew he was just about ready to excuse himself. She didn't know how she knew, but she supposed that came with him being Sheldon. He had since become predictable to her, which was probably why his dramatic change in the last week disturbed her…in more ways than one.

Before he could open his mouth to speak, she stepped forward and took the box from him, then carefully put it back in its place.

"That's Rapunzel's spot," Penny informed. "She takes top shelf because like I said, she's special."

Sheldon was quiet for a moment, before he reached up to change the angle of the box. Apparently, Penny had positioned it the wrong way, and she shook her head with a smile. Same old Sheldon.

Once he was done, he drew his hands away and faced her. "You didn't take it out of the box."

She shivered when she felt his breaths on the tendrils of her hair. Since when had she…or Sheldon…moved this close towards each other?

"A friend of mine once told me that to take a rare, limited edition item of a beloved franchise out of the box would instantly diminish its collector's value, hence rendering it useless as an investment." She beamed as Sheldon widened his eyes. "I didn't give a crap about that, but I have to say I agreed with him when he explained about the importance of preserving collectibles for future generations. I'd certainly want my kids to be able to see this."

Sheldon took a step back, and Penny bit her lip. Had she said too much?

"And why would you wish for your...future offspring to set eyes on a silly piece of inaccurately depicted plastic horse?" Again, she saw Sheldon swallow, and she noticed his body shake ever so subtly.

She crossed her arms and tried to glare at him, but ended up smiling. "Big words coming from the guy who gave it to me as a birthday present."

"You were the one who once taught me the basics of gift-giving," Sheldon reminded with a little more vehemence than necessary. "Number one, it should not be something someone needs. This little plastic pony serves no real purpose. Check. Number two, it should be something fun. Although I fail to see how My Little Pony is 'fun'," he made quotes in the air with his fingers, which made Penny roll her eyes, "you seem to think it is. Check. And Number three, it should be something they would not buy for themselves. You didn't do that at Comic Con when you had the chance. Check. Ergo, I decided on this gift because it fulfilled all the necessary requirements."

"If that's the case, you could've gotten me shoes, like the rest of the guys…well, Leonard and Raj, anyway. I don't even want to think of Howard's gift right now." Penny shuddered at the memory, before looking Sheldon straight in the eye. "But what did you do, Sheldon? You bought this behind my back and managed to keep it a secret for four whole months before giving it to me, wrapped in this cute little Hello Kitty wrapper. I mean, do you even have any idea how rare a Rapunzel My Little Pony is?"

Sheldon's face twitched. "I don't see the point of this conversation."

"The point, Sheldon, is that even though you think this gift isn't anything special, it is to me." She made hand gestures to get her message across, but when he continued to stare blankly at her, she said, "It's just like that Nimoy napkin. I thought it was a good present and didn't think of it as special. But you did. You even hugged me."

"Was that also why you kissed me on your birthday?"

Penny's breath hitched at the onslaught of memories, and she found herself locking eyes with Sheldon.

"_You kissed me."_

"_Well…yeah. "_

"_Why would you do such a thing? "_

"_I don't know…because you just gave me the best friggin' present in the entire world? "_

"Yes, Sheldon," Penny finally nodded, and kept her smile as steady as she could. "I kissed you, but it wasn't just because of the gift. I kissed you because…you made me so happy, I couldn't put it into words."

A long moment of silence followed. Penny tried reading Sheldon's eyes despite the dimness, but found that she couldn't, and as the silence stretched from awkward to unnerving, she began thinking of a way to make him leave.

Then, he spoke. "So…what you're telling me is that my hugging you was still not enough reciprocation for your providing me the signature and DNA of Leonard Nimoy."

"What? No, I—"

The room grew silent once more. Only this time, it was because Sheldon had pressed his lips against Penny's.

Penny's knees shook. She imagined she would've collapsed on the floor if Sheldon hadn't been holding her to him, or if she hadn't had her arms around his neck, though how and when they got there, she couldn't tell. All coherent thought had dissolved into nothingness the moment he kissed her, until all that remained was the feel of his lips, the strength of his arms, and the warmth of his body.

He pulled back, but kept her in his embrace, and Penny's eyes remained closed until she felt him press her forehead against hers. She looked into the blue of his eyes and tried to understand his thoughts; tried to grasp exactly what was happening but he was kissing her again, this time, with a fervor bordering on desperation.

She responded by cupping the back of his head as he did hers, angling her face to suit his until their breaths evolved into moans, and their kisses went from chaste to torrid.

This time, when Sheldon coaxed her lips to part, she met his tongue with every thrust, every swirl, every suckle. This time, when he pulled her towards him and began grinding against her, she lifted her leg to his waist so she could feel him against her.

Her eyes flew open. He was already hard, and she began to wonder how long he had been.

Sheldon growled in her mouth, and with a flick of an arm, he threw her on the bed. Penny gasped from the impact, but before she could take a breath, Sheldon was on top of her, capturing her mouth and entwining his tongue with hers, one hand slipping beneath her blouse, the other parting her legs so he could rub his erection against her.

Heat spread from where they touched. Her thoughts lost in a sea of feeling, she slipped her hands beneath his pajama top, clawing at the skin of his abdomen as she began grinding herself to him. She whimpered when she felt his fingers pinch her nipples. She couldn't even remember when he had undone the clasp of her bra.

In one swift movement, he pushed her blouse up to her collarbone, his mouth leaving hers to land on a taut nipple.

Penny groaned and arched her back to Sheldon as he continued to suck on her breast, his lips rhythmically clamping and tugging, while his hand tended to her other breast, squeezing and rolling it in his palm. She felt his teeth scrape her skin, and she yelped at the mixture of pain and pleasure.

Then, he began squeezing her breast harder, and she winced when his nails dug in. "Sh…Sheldon…"

He rose and once again, covered her lips with his. But his movements had become faster. His face was switching from one angle to another, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe, especially with his weight on top of her. His tongue was beginning to choke. His hands beginning to claw.

She was beginning to feel pain.

And fear.

"Sh..Shel…"

With another growl, he lifted himself from her and almost tore at his pajama top before discarding it to the floor, and, he was over her again, muffling her cries with hot, suffocating kisses and bruising and scratching her skin with his roaming, possessive hands.

She managed to turn her face away, just enough for a single breath before he grabbed her chin and slipped his tongue inside her mouth again. She could feel him rubbing his hips faster against hers, and so help her, she was still responding in kind despite her resistance.

Because she _was_ resisting. This was all happening too fast.

She put her palms against his chest and tried to push him back but he slapped her hands away and tugged her blouse free of her arms, not even acknowledging her cries when he did.

"Sheldon!"

He pinned her down, and again, rubbed himself against her, but this time, with more ferocity. Penny felt herself thrown back and forth from pleasure to horror as his mouth planted wet kisses all over her face, his breaths coming out in groans while hers came out in whimpers. His weight seemed to have doubled, and her head began to spin from the lack of air and from the speed of which things were taking place.

"Sheldon, please…please stop…"

"I …" A kiss. A lick. A bite followed by her cry. "I can't…stop…"

Penny's eyes widened. What did he mean he couldn't stop? Why couldn't he?

Then, she felt him slip his hands beneath her mini skirt and tug her underwear to her knees. A shuffle, a shift, a wiggle, and she knew without looking that he was pushing down his pajama bottoms.

Too fast. It was all happening too fast.

"Penny…forgive…me…"

She didn't think. Only acted as she reached up and slapped him across the face.

Sheldon froze, as did Penny. He still had his head set sideways, as though he were still in the moment where her open palm had hit his face.

Penny waited beneath him with bated breath. Her hand was still tingling, and the unpleasant feel of it reached all the way to the pit of her stomach.

Then, without looking at her, Sheldon jumped off the bed, grabbed his clothes from the floor and ran out of the room. Penny remained on the mattress, half-naked and unmoving, and it wasn't until she heard the door slam that she began breathing again.

She was still shaking by the time she stood up. One peek at her living room told her she was alone, and she hurriedly locked the door and slipped on the chain before running to the bathroom.

She flicked on the lights and looked herself in the mirror. Her hair was wild, her face still flushed, her skin blotchy where Sheldon had kissed, sucked and nipped. She saw marks where he'd dug his fingernails in, small bruises where he'd grabbed her, and one prominent scratch mark at the side of her neck, which made her eyes water when she touched it. She must've gotten it from when Sheldon had almost torn her blouse off.

After taking a moment to calm herself, Penny slipped off the rest of her clothes and stepped into her shower, turning it as hot as she could tolerate until she felt herself cleansed of Sheldon's violation.

But had that been violation? She had wanted it, hadn't she? Hadn't she been the one to initiate it in a way? Hadn't she been aroused? Hadn't she responded to him?

Then again, that man in her bedroom, the one who looked at her with smoldering, obsessive eyes…the man who nearly devoured every inch of her being had not been Sheldon. The Sheldon Cooper she knew could never physically hurt another human being.

Especially not her.

Penny stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in her pink terrycloth robe. She walked over to her mirror, and once again, stared at her reflection.

Somehow, somewhere, something had happened to Sheldon.

And she swore she would find out whatever the cost.

**A/N:** Got enough S/P did you? (*looks up at skies…negative for flying shoes. Time to get out into the open?*) I know this isn't enough to make up for the last chapter. But hey, we got them to bed didn't we? Ugh, you'll have to excuse me, like I said, it's 3AM and I couldn't sleep until I finished this part.

A piece of trivia. The gift Sheldon got for Penny is a very rare Generation 1 My Little Pony called Rapunzel, which is a pink, blue-eyed Pony with very long golden mane and tail. I chose to have the flashback set during Comic Con, because that's only one of two events (the other the annual My Lil Pony convention) in which Hasbro (My Lil Pony manufacturer) opens up a booth on these collectibles. I don't know about auctions though, but this is merely a fic so some elements are made up. Perhaps the biggest thing would be that I highly doubt Sheldon has enough money to buy a Rapunzel Pony. Last I checked on ebay, it costs $850.00 with an original price of $1130++ 0_0. But hey, this is a fanfic, I'm not even gonna state how much Sheldon paid for it since that was an auction, but this is just to give you guys an idea ;) Oh, and I'm not into my lil pony. All these came from research.

One last thing on the matter. I chose My Little Pony because it's one of the things Sheldon knows Penny collects (aside from the beanie babies and the Care Bears **which has been used in fics before so I went the other way**) and the fact that she grew up in a farm could be the reason why she loves My Lil Ponies. This was mentioned during the famous "Hello, Hello Kitty" speech of "The Nerdvana Annihilation".

Teasers? Investigations and Confrontations ^_^


	12. Chapter 12

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"  
**Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy  
**Rating:** PG  
**Chapters:** 12/(?)  
**Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...  
**Summary: **There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...  
**Disclaimer:**I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
**A/N:** I think there's been a clamor for a different type of action. I hope this one lives up to your expectations guys :P Oh, lots of dialogue. Rating's a LOT lower than last chapter's ^_^. Again, my love to **gemsile123** and **life_coveter** for their insightful and thorough betas :D

**  
Chapter 12**

Dr. Leslie Winkle worked late into the night in one of Caltech's laboratories. Around her were tubes of strange, bubbling liquid, which hissed and sputtered as it was heated and transferred from one vial to another with the use of machines and various apparatuses. Leslie monitored the machine's progress, and satisfied with what she saw, went back to gathering the necessary fibers before slipping the sample fabric back inside the zip-loc bag.

Using the tweezers, she picked up the fibers and slipped it onto a glass slide before putting it under a microscope. This was her third time doing it, and though she had already reached a conclusion, she needed to make sure.

She took one more look, entered her findings into the computer, opened an application and clicked the print button. She waited patiently as the machine spat out a myriad of numerical data and charts only few could understand, and once it was done, she thoroughly poured over each entry until she finally smiled.

Chances for the experiment's success were up to 90.8%. Now, all she needed to do was remove some variables, and she was thankful that all it would take was a single phone call…

***

Penny had never been an early bird. If sleeping were a form of exercise, she'd probably have the same physique as Venus Williams, but things were different that Friday morning. She'd slept at three, woken up at seven and hadn't been able to get back to sleep since. So she settled for making coffee and staring at the clock while she waited.

The knocks came at 7:12AM. She hugged her robe tighter around her body and opened the door to usher Leonard in.

"Got your text." Leonard stepped inside. "I'm sorry you missed your bus. Are you…" He trailed off, his brows rising up to his hairline. "Penny, what happened to your neck?"

Penny's hand flew to the scratch, and she cursed under her breath when she felt it sting. She had almost forgotten about Sheldon's fingernail marks. "I…accidentally scratched myself. Is Sheldon still in the apartment?"

"No. He's actually gone off to work. Ramona picked him up."

The name ran a shiver down Penny's spine. "R…_Ramona_?"

"Yeah. Remember that grad student who had a thing for Sheldon a while back?"

Penny nodded quietly. Something was beginning to nag at the back of her head. "I thought Sheldon had already brushed her off."

"Well, she's apparently a very persistent girl," Leonard muttered and took a seat on the couch, his eyes on the floor. For some reason, Penny felt he was downplaying some facts. "From what I've seen and what Sheldon has told me, she's been bringing food and coming on to him for nearly two weeks now."

Penny's fingers tightened around her cup of coffee. She started to sit beside Leonard, but changed her mind and headed for the green swivel chair beside the couch. Sheldon's spot.

"Two weeks…" she muttered, settling herself on the chair and trying to act nonchalant as she sipped her coffee. "And she's been bringing him food, you say?"

"Yep. Chocolates, brownies…she brought oysters once but Sheldon doesn't like shellfish. She also brings him juice from time to time. Oh, and peach cobblers. She orders from La Marea."

The cup almost slipped from Penny's hands. Leonard started to stand, but she held her hand up. "I…I'm okay. Too much coffee I guess. Nerves." She gave Leonard her best reassuring smile before slowly heading off to the kitchen to put away the cup and give herself time to think.

_La Marea_. _The pastry shop_. The day she'd really began noticing something strange with Sheldon's behavior. The day he'd casually wiped the chocolate off her lip before sucking it off his thumb. The day she'd joined him in a Halo victory hug and felt him for the first time.

Her eyes widened. If she were in some weird comic book or cartoon universe, she imagined she'd have either a light bulb or an exclamation point on her head.

Sheldon had mentioned Ramona giving him some brownies that day.

"Penny?"

Penny shook away from her thoughts and stared at Leonard's concerned face. She had almost forgotten he was still there. "Oh, sorry. Were you saying something?"

"Um…no actually." Leonard twisted his body some more on the couch, his arm settling on the backrest. "Penny, are you sure you're okay? You zoned out earlier."

"I'm fine. Like I said, too much coffee," Penny explained lamely, then walked over to sit in the swivel chair again. "You mentioned Ramona's been coming on to Sheldon. How did he react to that?"

She watched Leonard's lips press together until the corners of his mouth turned white. "Initially, the same as he treated any other women who came on to him—either with indifference or condescension."

"_Initially_?" Penny parroted, punctuating each syllable.

"Well yeah. He had been pretty rude to her, which is why I was surprised when he agreed to go on a date with her and—"

"He _what_?" Penny felt as though a bucket of ice cold water had just been dumped on her. "When was this?"

"Yesterday," Leonard stammered a little, and Penny had to try and calm herself down. "Ramona came over to our table and asked Sheldon out. He just said yes, right there and then."

"Why?"

Leonard shrugged. "He said something about feeling pathetic. I don't know. I mean, who knows what goes on in Sheldon's mind?"

"Is that why…why Ramona picked him up earlier?" Penny leaned back on the chair, her shoulders drooping, as were the corners of her lips. "Because they're going on a date?"

"Oh, no." Leonard shook his head. "They won't be going until seven tonight. She's just giving him a ride to the office because he'd asked her to."

Penny gritted her teeth behind closed lips. She didn't think there could be any more surprises, and remaining calm was practically killing her. "Sheldon asked her to pick him up?"

"That's what he told me." Leonard blinked at her and frowned. "Penny, are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah. I…just need to lay off the coffee for a lil' while."

"If you say so." Leonard shrugged again, and grew quiet for a moment. Then, his chin rose. "Oh, I almost forgot to ask. Why did you text me to come here? You wanted to talk about something?"

"Oh. That." It was only by some miracle that Penny managed a steady smile. "Funny, but I actually forgot what it was. Thanks anyway, Leonard."

***

Penny maneuvered her car to Caltech's parking lot, giving her wristwatch a quick glance as she slowly drove to Sheldon's space. She was minutes ahead of schedule, which was good. Sheldon should be about ready to go home by now, possibly gathering his books or doing some last minute calculations. More than enough time for her to barge in on the university to corner him and get to the bottom of everything. That had been her sole purpose for giving the rest of her shift away so she could change out of her uniform and get to the school on time.

God. It was almost like her early pre-Kurt community college days.

She saw another car in Sheldon's usually empty parking space and hit the brakes. Sheldon, of course, didn't have a car, and the one occupying his space wasn't Leonard's.

It didn't take a genius to figure out whose car it was. Penny had barely stepped out of her Volkswagen when a girl with long, curly, blonde hair appeared from the corner, practically skipping towards the car in question.

Penny gasped, and Ramona Nowitzki spun around to face her, her expression turning from surprise to shock.

Penny imagined her expression wasn't far from Ramona's…minus the creepiness.

"You!" she growled, moving away from her VW and stepping towards Ramona, her eyes taking in the grad student's 'new look'. Aside from the hair, Ramona was also wearing _her_: a pale yellow blouse and tight flower-patterned jeans, minus the cleavage, but it was definitely her style of wardrobe, and Penny shuddered when she remembered the term _cosplay_.

Ramona took three steps back. "W-What are you doing here? Are you here to steal Dr. Cooper away from me again?"

Penny widened her eyes at Ramona, who had narrowed her eyes and scrunched up her face. It took Penny a minute to realize she was attempting a death glare.

This was seriously creepy.

"Okay, sister. Fess up." She threw her own death glare, and smirked when she saw proof that the 'original was always best'. "What did you do to Sheldon?"

"I…I didn't do anything."

"Right. And I'm the tooth fairy." Penny took a step closer and readied her attack. "You put something in his food didn't you? What was it? Coffee? Rum? Drugs?"

She knew her accusation was almost groundless and somewhat borderline paranoia, but when she saw the way Ramona's eyes flickered with the last word, she knew she had hit on something.

"W-Why would you accuse me of drugging Dr. Cooper?"

"Because I _know_ you did." One more step, and she was practically toe-to-toe with Ramona. "Now tell me what you did, or so help me, I will tear every single fake blonde strand off that creepy little head of yours! And after that, I'm gonna tie 'em together with a pretty little bow and sell 'em as hair extensions in a costume shop for Halloween!"

"Y-You…you wouldn't dare." Ramona tried to back up, but her legs were already against the hood of her car. "I mean, you couldn't. It's physically impossible for a person, especially a delicate…vain woman such as yourself, to have the capacity to bald another person simply by the use of their fingers."

"_Delicate_?" Penny raised a brow and smirked. "Sister, I used to hogtie bulls and slice off their testicles in under a minute. What makes you think scalping you would be difficult?"

She almost laughed at the way Ramona's face turned from ghost-white to puke-green. "Y-You're making that up."

"You wanna _try _me?"

Ramona was so obviously flustered, Penny felt her cheek hurt from smirking. "Y-You're just jealous because you're in love with Dr. Cooper and yet he chose to date me instead of you."

Blood rushed up to Penny's cheeks. Funny how her feelings towards that statement had changed dramatically over the years.

"That's exactly why I said you've done something to him." Penny pointed a finger in Ramona's face, resisting the urge to just gouge the girl's eyes out. "Sheldon would _never_ willingly go on a date with a woman, especially you, under normal circumstances."

This made Ramona's shoulders hoist and her face contort into an expression bordering on terrifying, that made Penny step back. "Fine! Say all you want but at least I got him to date me."

"So you did do something." Penny took a moment to breathe. "Tell me what it is or—"

"Ramona, I apologize if I kept you wait—"

Penny spun around, as did Ramona. Sheldon was standing before them, hands clasped to the strap of his messenger bag, his wide-eyed gaze moving from one girl to the other.

Penny imagined he must be thinking he'd been sucked into some freaky doppelganger or clone movie.

"Sheldon…" Penny put on her best smile and walked over until she had her hands on Sheldon's arm. He flinched, but she didn't let go. "I came over to pick you up. We can have some La Marea before we go home and…"

He wasn't looking at her. Well, he was facing her, but his eyes were on something else, and that's when Penny realized he was looking at the scratch on her neck. It was still red, and she hissed at the sting when she reached out, too late to cover it with a palm. _Damn, I should've worn a scarf…_

Sheldon pulled his arm away and stepped away from her. "I'm going home with Ramona."

Penny's jaw almost dropped. Sheldon was never a man of few words, but now he was brushing her off? "Sheldon…"

"Ramona, let's leave." Sheldon spun around and let himself into the passenger seat of Ramona's car. The grad student was only too eager to step in and start the engine.

Penny marched over to the car and stuck her head in the passenger seat. "Sheldon, get out of the car. _Now_."

She saw him shudder at her tone, but still, he shook his head. "No."

Penny scowled. It was time to pull out the big guns. "Sheldon Cooper, if you don't get out of this car right now, I swear I will never speak to you again."

He didn't even look at her. "So be it, Penny. In fact, I would prefer you keep a considerable distance from me for an interminable amount of time."

"What?"

This time, he did look at her, and what she saw in his eyes made her pull away from the car window. "Stay away from me, Penny. Get as far away as you possibly can."

Penny blinked and stared at Sheldon, but he had once again, faced forward.

She saw Ramona lean over, and she felt her hackles rise when the girl smirked at her. "If you ask Dr. Cooper to repeat what he just said, then you really are a typical blonde. So long, _sister_."

The car pulled away from the space. Penny stood, silent and unmoving, watching them until they disappeared from the parking lot.

She had just been ready to tell Ramona she'd understood Sheldon the first time, but she'd been too haunted by the pleading look in Sheldon's eyes when he'd told her to stay away from him.

He wasn't being mean. And he hadn't said it for _his_ sake.

Then, Penny remembered Ramona.

Ramona, and her colored hair.

Ramona, and her copycat clothes.

Ramona, and her blatant lies.

Ramona, and her damned smirk.

Her face tight with determination, Penny got into her car, parked it in Sheldon's space and marched towards the university entrance.

_Oh yeah_, she thought, as she dialed Leonard's cell number. _It's junior rodeo on, bitch_.

**A/N:** Hope you guys liked the confrontation. I know there was no cat-fight, but as much as we would all like to get our claws on Ramona, the story's not gonna move forward with it :P  
And as you see, I DEFINITELY read your comments. You want confrontation? Hair pulling? Got that here…well, almost ^^  
Teasers? Er…more investigations and confrontations?


	13. Chapter 13

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"

**Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy

**Rating:** PG-13

**Chapters:** 13/(?)

**Timeline**: Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...

**Summary:** There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...

**Disclaimer:**I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
**A/N:**As promised, Friday, EARLY Friday, posting here the next chapter of the Cooper Libido Experiment. Lots of science-y thingies here came from research, although some are inaccurate and are just put together to move the story forward. Hey, this is a sci-fi AU fic, I can do whatever I want :D. Thanks as always for my lovely betas, **gemsile123** and **life_coveter** ;) You rock girls!

**Chapter 13**

The school bell rang through the hallways of Caltech, signaling the end of classes. Students filled the hallways, most running to their lockers, others moving through the throng, eager to go home. Amidst the hustles and bustles, two people went unnoticed as they tacked an ad on the school bulletin board.

It was an old ad, dated roughly three weeks ago.

_Test subjects needed for libido enhancement experiment._

_MALES ONLY!_

_Interested parties may approach Dr. Leslie Winkle for initial screening._

***

"Seriously? Drugs?"

"Oh, what now? You're going to say I'm delusional?" Penny huffed as she followed Leonard through the school corridors, though exactly where they were going, she didn't know. She'd only told him she wanted to know Ramona's address. That way, she could break in and look for whatever that was she made Sheldon ingest. Or wait for that crazy-ass bitch to return and claw her eyes out. Heck, she could do both!

"No but…that seems kind of a stretch, doesn't it?" Leonard refuted with a shrug, though he didn't sound very sure. "I mean, that exchange you had in the parking lot doesn't really convey much—"

"She flinched when I mentioned drugs," Penny reminded him vehemently. "Then there's the part when she said 'at least I got him to date me'. Now why the hell would she say that if she didn't do something?"

Leonard stopped by a bulletin board and faced her, his thumb and forefinger on his chin. "Okay. I get your argument about Ramona. But what about Sheldon? Why are you saying he's been drugged?"

"He agreed to date her! Isn't that proof enough?" Penny threw exasperated hands in the air. Leonard cringed, but she didn't care. Knowing Sheldon was with Ramona with every passing minute pissed the hell out of her and she damn well needed to take it out on someone.

Leonard dropped his gaze to the floor and hunched up his shoulders, the way he usually did when he was steeling himself to say something he knew Penny wouldn't approve of. "Penny…I hate to say this, but it's really not solid enough proof. Not that I don't believe you, but as a scientist, I need to look at all the facts."

Penny took in deep breaths to calm herself. He was right of course. She had left out _everything_ she'd experienced with Sheldon in the last several days. She didn't want to tell him, but if it was the only way she could get him to help her…

Then, as if by some divine intervention, her eyes caught sight of an ad on the bulletin board, printed on a yellow paper in bold black letters.

Penny took the ad off the board, her eyes widening as they moved over the words. "Leonard…what's this?"

"I think that's Leslie's ad…yeah, it is." Leonard pointed at the name on the bottom of the paper. "We don't even know why she's working on something like that. She's a physicist after all. Also, there weren't any volunteers. Must be an ego thing, I don't know."

"No volunteers…" Penny murmured, then snapped her head towards Leonard. He had a weird look on his face, like he was on the verge of putting two and two together, but right now, she didn't care if he had suddenly unlocked all the secrets of the universe.

There was one thing she needed to do.

"Leonard, take me to Leslie's office."

***

Leslie was hunched over a microscope when Penny opened the door, unannounced. She'd asked Leonard to leave, and she was glad he hadn't put up much protest, but now she was thinking it might've been a good idea to have him around for this. If her earlier encounter with Ramona were any indicator of the outcome of this confrontation, she'd rather not be alone with Leslie.

Still, she gathered her wits and entered the office, slamming the door shut behind her.

Leslie spun around. Penny was prepared for shock and anger, but she was surprised when she saw Leslie's smile.

"Look who we have here. Malibu Barbie's come out of her box to visit." She walked away from the microscope and stood beside her desk, a smile still plastered on her face. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"I saw this." Penny held up the ad, biting her lip as she thought of a way to broach the subject. She had some suspicions that Leslie might be involved, but she didn't want to jump the gun and lose the only possible lead she had. For all she knew, Ramona could've stolen the drug. Perhaps she should just ask about this experiment, maybe act as if she's really interested and—

"So, Dr. Dumbass Cooper finally cracked, huh?"

Penny's jaw dropped, her eyes widening even more when Leslie's smile evolved into a smirk. "You…you _knew_?"

"'Course I did. He's the test subject of my experiment, though he doesn't have to know that."

Penny had to take a moment to gather her thoughts, and when she did, her words came out pained. "Ramona's in on it too, isn't she?"

"Yep," Leslie admitted as though she had simply admitted to being a scientist. "She was the one who first gave me the idea of using Dr. Dumbass, by the way. She really wanted coitus with him, though I can never understand why anyone would want intercourse with an arrogant, self-centered dumbass."

"He's not a dumbass!" Penny was unable to stop herself from shouting, and closed in on the space between her and Leslie. "He's got more smarts than ten or twenty of you. Call him dumbass again and I'll show you an ass-whooping."

If Ramona had been terrified of her threats, Leslie was a whole different matter. She didn't even bat an eye when Penny crunched her knuckles.

"Oh, boy. You've got it bad."

Penny blinked. "Got what, bad?"

"You want me to help you?" Leslie walked around her desk and after rummaging through her drawer, she held out a piece of paper to Penny. "Sign this. It's a secrecy agreement."

Penny took the paper and read through each item carefully. She'd learned enough from Sheldon's contracts to do so, and after a minute of reading, she faced Leslie again. "So all I need to do is to keep everything we discuss here confidential, right?"

"That is correct."

"Fine." Penny grabbed a pen from the desk, signed her name on the dotted line, and handed the contract back to Leslie. "There. Now tell me exactly what kind of drug you used on Sheldon."

"It's not so much a drug, as it is a naturally occurring compound," Leslie explained while walking towards the microscope and peering into it again. Penny noticed a zip-loc bag on the table with what appeared to be a handkerchief in it. "As you've read from the ad, its main purpose is to dramatically increase the libido of males. Since Dr. Du—I mean Sheldon," Leslie corrected herself when she saw Penny glare, "has never shown interest in sex, Ramona and I agreed he would be the perfect candidate for the serum. Unfortunately, it didn't work…at least, not for Ramona."

Slowly, almost dramatically, Leslie turned to face her again. "By your presence in my office, I assume Sheldon has had some reactions to you."

"Well…yeah." Penny couldn't stop herself from blushing and waited for Leslie to continue explaining. But when she saw the way the physicist looked at her, she knew she had turned positively red. "What? You want me to tell you his…his reactions?"

"It's stipulated in the contract, item number 7, that you must answer all my inquiries involving the experiment." Leslie held up the paper, and Penny found herself cursing. Still, she kept her word, and told Leslie everything from the hard-ons, the cold showers, and the sudden attack back when he was sick.

She didn't include the part where he'd almost raped her the night before.

Leslie leaned her back against the table, her thumb and forefinger on her chin. "I guess my hypothesis was correct then."

"What hypothesis?"

Leslie's smile tightened, as though she were forcing down a 'Eureka' or something. To Penny, though, it looked a little like a sneer. "Sheldon isn't the only subject in this experiment, you know. After I observed his initial reactions to Ramona, or the lack thereof, I theorized it's because there was a different type of variable affecting what would've been the conclusion. It's something I had considered at the start, but I never thought it would actually affect the experiment."

Penny felt her lip twitch. She hated it when scientists talked like this. God knows she already had enough of it from Sheldon. "Get to the point already."

"All right. Do you know what a pheromone is?"

"You mean, the animal sex attractant?" Leslie stared at her. "Discovery Channel. Sheldon watches it a lot."

"Apparently, so does someone else," Leslie quipped, still staring at her as though she had grown a second head. Then, she shrugged. "Anyway…I started the experiment with the goal of increasing the libido of males, but along the way, I encountered a few…other effects on the lab rats I used. There's aggression, irritability, prolonged erection and longer endurance during copulation."

Penny's fingers tightened into a fist, and she found herself swallowing hard. She shook herself. _This is not the time to think about those things, Penny!_

"But perhaps the most fascinating of all was the serum's ability to hyper-activate the vomeronasal organ. It is actually vestigial, lacking nerve connection to the brain—"

"Wait. You're losing me here. The what organ?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot you don't even have a master's degree." Leslie shrugged, and Penny shot daggers at her with her eyes. "The vomeronasal organ is what makes animals smell pheromones. Humans have it too, but evolution has rendered it almost nonexistent. The serum activates it. It's notable though, that not everyone has the vomeronasal organ. Which was why I didn't take this into consideration when I started the experiment with Ms. Nowitzki, but apparently, Sheldon has one. And a developed one at that. I have his CAT scans to prove it."

Something was beginning to nag at Penny again. A sort of understanding, but she wanted to hear it in words. "So…what exactly are you saying? Sheldon has a sharp sense of smell?"

"Have you not been following me at all?" Leslie sighed. "Didn't I say Sheldon's not the only subject of this experiment? You're part of it too."

Penny's jaw dropped. "Me?"

"To put it simply, Sheldon's senses have been bombarded by your smell. _Your_pheromones, to be exact."

"Wai-wai-wait!" Penny stammered, holding a shaky hand up the air. "You're saying I have been unconsciously coming on to Sheldon? That I've been spewing sex scents for him?"

"That's right." Leslie grinned, and took out another set of papers for Penny to see. She took it and tried to understand, but who the hell can read this stuff? "I've gotten some samples from you. And no, I'm not gonna answer how," Leslie added when Penny started to speak. "But as you can see from the results, your pheromone levels greatly exceeds the average, like an animal in heat. Any male would respond to that, but with the serum and the existence of his vomeronasal organ, it's Sheldon who responds the most."

Penny's knees wobbled and she had to sit down lest she crumble to the floor. She remembered the times Sheldon had walked up close to her…smelling her. Remembered when he had told her she smelled nice even when she'd just come home from a tiring shift. Remembered him inhaling the scent of her hair when they'd watched Shutter together.

Her shoulders began to droop. She'd always looked at the world with fascination and mystery, especially in terms of love, and she hated it when anyone, especially Sheldon, explained everything through a logical sequence of events, taking the magic away and turning it into cold hard facts. Now that Leslie had broken down Sheldon's sexual attraction to her in this same manner…she felt as though she was ten years old again, when her sister told her that Santa wasn't real. Only this time, the feeling was worse.

"Too much information for you, Barbie?"

Penny glared at Leslie. This time, the physicist did take a step back. "What's going to happen to Sheldon now? Isn't the serum just going to pass through his body or something?"

"Oh, it will. It's the effects that will stay because the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus will continue to release the hormones responsible for the increase in his libido. Meaning, he will get worse and worse until…"

"Until what?"

"Until he loses control and will quite possibly hurt others and himself. But hey, that's just my observations from the lab rats." Leslie added when Penny looked up at her in horror. "Sheldon's…well, physically human at least, so it might be different."

"Is there anything that can be done to stop this?"

"Castration would be one way…I'm just joking." Leslie held up her hands when Penny scowled. "We have two other ways to go about this. Since technically you're the one sending him signals, we could create some sort of pheromone suppressor, but research on the female pheromone is unfortunately still in its infancy. But if you're willing to help…"

"I am. What do you need?"

"Saliva and sweat for one. And may I ask if it's almost you're time of the month? Fertile women tend to release the most pheromones. If you would allow me to take swabs from your—"

"Not friggin' way!"

"Okay, sweat and saliva it is."

"And how long will it take for you to make this pheromone suppressor?"

"Like I said, research is in its infancy. Might take me a month. A year. Ten years, who knows?"

Penny found herself gaping at Leslie. "Then why are we even considering this as an alternative?"

Leslie twisted her lips, and again, tapped her chin with a forefinger. "There is one other way…"

Penny didn't like the ominous tone she was using. "What is it?"

"You've watched the Discovery Channel with Sheldon. Do you still remember the rest of that program on animal pheromones?"

Yes, she did and this made her heart lurch up to her throat. "You're saying…I should…"

She couldn't say it. But Leslie, ever the scientist, filled her in. "Only way a pheromone-induced behavioral change can be satiated would be through mating."

Penny swallowed. "Mating?"

"Yup." Leslie nodded. "You need to have hot, animal sex with Dr. Dumbass Cooper."

**A/N:**Research on human pheromones is actually relatively new, with the discovery of the male sex hormone Androstadienone, which is found in sweat. Little progress has been done on female pheromone research. For more, just wiki ;)

Enough with the science-y thingy. I hope this chapter answers a lot of questions. Penny would feel bummed of course with this discovery. But tell me, do you really still wanna kill Leslie after what she advised Penny to do? LoL! Thank you as always guys, for following this fic ;d were getting closer to the end, I can taste it.


	14. Chapter 14

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"  
**Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Chapters:** 14/(?)  
**Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...  
**Summary: **There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.**  
A/N: **This chapter's gonna be awfully short. Originally, it was part of Chapter 13 but I thought the last line of Chapter 13 worked well as a cliffhanger, so I decided to put in a separate chapter. Enjoy…or not :P As always, thanks for the betas, **gemsile123**and **life_coveter** !

**Chapter 14**

Penny was still deep in thought by the time she got out of Leslie Winkle's office. Their conversation had lasted only ten minutes but it changed everything, opening new doors but closing others.

Sheldon had been drugged.

Sheldon wanted to have sex with her because of the drug.

She'd wanted to have sex with him all along (although she kind of knew that already).

The only way to cure Sheldon would be to have sex with him.

It was a win-win situation, really, but she felt like crap.

"Penny?"

Penny looked up, and saw Leonard walking towards her. "Hi. So…how'd it go with Leslie?"

She shrugged. What else could she say? "I'm…getting nowhere. Maybe…maybe you're right. I'm just being delusional." She had to bite her cheek at the lie, but Leonard seemed to be taking it, with the way he nodded his head. "Uhm, Leonard, I forgot to ask. Where are Sheldon and Ramona going on their date?"

"I think they're going to Giacomo's." Leonard looked at his watch. "They'll be going out at seven. That's in two hours, so Sheldon's probably home by now, preparing and stuff. You know how he is when it comes to out-of-routine activities."

Penny felt her stomach hiss and bubble, and it wasn't hunger. She was imagining a candlelit dinner of Sheldon and her creepy-as-hell-copycat Ramona. Imagined Ramona convincing Sheldon to get in her apartment for some 'coffee'. And then…

_She really wanted coitus with him…_

Only way a pheromone-induced behavioral change can be satiated would be through mating…

Penny felt herself shiver from the sudden bout of possessiveness that consumed her until she felt herself grow green eyes and claws. Drugs or not, Sheldon was hers, and no skankalicious redhead-turned-blonde was going to trample on her turf.

She tried to think of a plan. She could show up at Giacomo's at seven, drag Sheldon away and then have her way with him. It didn't sound too romantic, but whatever works. If Leslie was right, Sheldon definitely wouldn't object to the idea of sex with her. Heck, he certainly hadn't last night. But if the guys ever find out what's going on…

"Penny?"

"What?"

Leonard cowered, and only then did Penny realize she had just snapped at him. "Well…I was going to ask you if you'd like to join me and the guys for a Star Wars Movie Marathon at the Newark tonight. With Sheldon on a date with Ramona and all, there won't be interruptions. I know it's not your thing and that you've already seen the movies but—"

"Thanks, but no thanks Leonard." Penny smiled, and thought the timing couldn't have been more perfect. "I have other plans for tonight."

Moments later, as Penny watched Leonard pull his car out of the parking lot, a scenario unfolded in her mind. She saw herself, in her tight little blue dress, with a yellow Penny Blossom in her hair, patiently waiting at the restaurant. If memory serves, Leonard had told her Ramona had already made reservations, so she could probably bribe a waiter to tell her which table it was. She might even be able to convince him to let her sit in that very table to wait.

Then, at exactly seven, Sheldon and Ramona would show up, and she'd get to see Ramona's ugly mug crumble once she lays a big wet one on Sheldon. He probably wouldn't be able to stop making out with her once she kisses him, which would be good if they weren't in public. If so, she would have to rush him home…or to a nearby hotel, and…

Penny shook her head and headed for her car. She wasn't going to plan it that far. But so far, so good.

She was going to win this, she thought, as she turned on the ignition. Queen Penelope was going to free Sheldor the Conqueror from the evil, grimy clutches of Ramona Nowitzki.

***

Traffic was heavy that afternoon, and it didn't help Ramona's mood any. She'd been positively shocked to see that…that skank Penny in the parking lot, that she hadn't been able to put her guard up. But that blonde…she's typical. Too dumb to figure out any slip of the tongue. Yeah, dumb blonde, Ramona thought with a smile.

She relaxed and turned to look apologetically at Dr. Sheldon Cooper. "I'm really sorry, Dr. Cooper. I should've checked for traffic updates. I know how you hate being off schedule—"

"And at the rate we're going, we won't be able to arrive in my apartment until 1815 hours, which wouldn't give us enough time to prepare for our dinner date at Giacomo's," Dr. Cooper filled in. He sounded angry, and his mind seemed to be elsewhere, but it didn't stop Ramona from feeling giddy that he was acknowledging this as a date.

"I really do apologize, Dr. Cooper. But I can always call and inform the restaurant about a change in the schedule."

"That won't be necessary. We won't be going out tonight."

Ramona almost dropped her phone. "W-What? But I—"

"If it's intimacy you want, I'd rather we head straight to your apartment. _Right now_."

Ramona felt as though the world had just stopped spinning. If he had just spoken the words she believed he did, then she'd rather stay frozen in this one moment than live an entire lifetime without it.

But time didn't work that way, and after a hard swallow, she asked, "You…want to share intimacy with me? You're…talking about engaging in sexual intercourse, right?"

"Is that not your goal? I was under the impression it was."

"Oh! Oh it is, but I'm just…"

"Then let's go. I'd rather not waste more time."

Ramona giggled and leaned over to plant a loud kiss on Dr. Cooper's cheek. She was too happy to acknowledge the way he cringed, the way his face quickly turned from red to white, and how he inched himself a little further away from her.

Nothing, she thought, as the traffic began to lift, was ever going to dampen her mood tonight.

**A/N: **So I guess that answers the question as to who will get to Sheldon first.  
Uhm…are those UFOs or are those shoes flying my way again? *ducks for cover*  
Come on guys, gimme a break. I wanna make everyone miserable because I'm miserable because I missed episode 1 of Season 3.  
OUCH!  
Okay okay! I'm not gonna make you wait too long for Chapter 15. It's gonna be up real soon, I pro---WHOA! *ducks*  
If anyone can give me a link where I can see streaming episodes online for season 3, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO!  
Teasers: Psycho 2 0_0


	15. Chapter 15

**Title:** "The Cooper Libido Experiment"

**Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy

**Rating:** PG-15

**Chapters:** 15/(?)

**Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...

**Summary:** There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.

**A/N:** Get those barf bags ready for the hurl! It's gonna be a big one! But you CANNOT skip this chapter so I'm begging you, stomach it as I have stomached writing it. I had to infuse my mucus linings with adamantium to write this so let it not be for naught and just read… 0_0 Thanks again for my two lovely betas, [info]gemsile123 ans [info]life_coveter , for having the stomach to beta this chapter ! :D

**A/N:** Get those barf bags ready for the hurl! It's gonna be a big one! But you CANNOT skip this chapter so I'm begging you, stomach it as I have stomached writing it. I had to infuse my mucus linings with adamantium to write this so let it not be for naught and just read… 0_0

**Chapter 15**

Their footsteps echoed as they made their way up the stairs and to Ramona's apartment on the second floor. Ramona was rattling on beside him, but Sheldon could barely hear her over the blood pounding in his ears. Each succeeding step seemed to have increased his circulation, and soon, he was swallowing imaginary boulders down his esophagus.

Esophagus.

Neck.

Penny's scratched neck.

The red, raw cut he'd been responsible for.

If she hadn't slapped him, he would've had his way with her. If she hadn't hit him back to his senses, he would've done the one thing he had feared the most since the start of his symptoms.

He would've hurt Penny…and it would've been far worse than a scratch.

"Dr. Cooper?"

Sheldon blinked and stared at Ramona. She had already opened the door, and was gesturing with her blonde head for him to get inside.

His stomach churned once more. This…'new look' of Ramona's had disturbed him since the first time he saw it. Part of him still screamed at the insanity of it all, him agreeing to go on a date with her, and now, him inviting her for the act of coitus. But as with everything he did, Sheldon had already made calculations.

Dr. Stephanie Barnett's right, he thought. His libido was off the charts. The cold showers hadn't worked, which left him only one other alternative.

_You need to have sex._

Sheldon released a shaky breath. When Ramona asked him out, he'd agreed, but only because Penny had gone to Nebraska and would not have been a viable option.

Or so he thought, because she'd been home. She'd been unexpectedly responsive to his advances, and he'd tried. Goodness knows, he tried, but his body had refused the dictates of his mind. He wanted…craved…_ached_ for Penny too much, and the events which transpired the night before only served to strengthen his resolve.

He had to engage in intercourse with a less desirable alternative—Ramona. Maybe then, he'd be able to regain control. Maybe then, he'd be cured of this…this _disease_. This lunacy.

And if he still wouldn't be able to control his aggression while in the act of copulation…at least it wouldn't be Penny he would be hurting.

He'd never do anything to hurt Penny.

He'd do absolutely _anything_ not to hurt Penny. Again.

"Dr. Cooper?"

"Oh. Sorry." Sheldon tried his best to hide a shudder and stepped inside the apartment, almost squeaking when the door slammed shut. He knew, without looking, that Ramona was moving up from behind him, and he reacted by walking briskly along the apartment's hallway and into the open door of the bedroom.

He froze as a myriad of senses assailed him. The scent of lavender and chamomile stung its way up his nose, and he could practically taste it in his tongue. The chill of the air-conditioned room made the hair on his skin bristle, though strangely, he was sweating. But what disturbed him the most was seeing his images on the walls, some in meticulously arranged frames, others haphazardly pinned on a corkboard at one side of the room. He could see a laptop on the dresser, and on it was a picture slideshow of him. Most of the images were taken during his lectures, though the other candid shots, he couldn't pinpoint the source.

Anxiety slowly evolved to fear. He didn't think things could get much worse until he caught sight of the Polaroid shots on Ramona's dresser, containing pictures of…

Penny.

Penny, with her natural, Midwest golden hair, styled in different ways. He recognized the Cheesecake factory in the background of some of the shots, while others were from outside their apartment.

A shiver shot through his spine at the implication of it all, and he begun thinking perhaps this had not been the brightest of ideas he'd acted upon.

"Like my room?" Ramona sang as she entered the bedroom, a glass of pineapple juice in her hand. She hadn't even offered it when Sheldon grabbed the glass and gulped down its contents, quenching the sudden dryness in his throat.

"I guess you weren't very thirsty," Ramona giggled, and Sheldon had to take a moment to absorb she had just used sarcasm.

_Oh dear God. She was acting just like Penny!_

Ramona's arms wound themselves around his shoulders. He squeaked in surprise when she pursed her lips at him, his feet instantly taking him a few steps back until his calves hit the side of the bed, sending him and the grad student sprawled on top of the mattress.

"Oh, Dr. Cooper, you're so clumsy, but clumsy's cute." Ramona giggled and began planting kisses at Sheldon's throat, a sudden wave of nausea threatening to overpower him when he felt her swirl her tongue on his Adam's apple.

This, he thought, was completely different from the brief moments he had with Penny. For one thing, he never felt the immense fear he was feeling now. It was irrational, he knew. What did he have to be afraid of? He could overpower Ramona if he wanted to. Was it the act of coitus itself that overwhelmed him? Why would it? Because he's afraid he wouldn't be able to perform?

_Of all the foolish…_

He wasn't able to finish his train of thought. Ramona's lips were slowly inching their way to his, and he quickly turned his head so her kisses landed on his cheek. Still, Ramona's mouth continued in their exploration of his face, his fingers curling at the bedspreads with each loud and wet smack.

His eyes landed once more on his framed images on the walls. Under normal circumstances, he would've been flattered at the uniqueness of which Ramona revered him, but this…

It was disturbing. _Frighteningly_ disturbing.

For the first time in a very long time, he feared Ramona. He remembered her stares, remembered her grins, remembered the looks she gave him when he had so much as thought of taking time off of work to engage in activities with his social circle. Ramona had tried to keep him away from all that.

She had wanted to keep him prisoner. Now, she wanted to possess him.

Still, Sheldon remained on the bed, even as Ramona sat up and began taking her sunny yellow blouse off before him. He wanted to scramble out of the room and get into a scalding hot shower so he could rid himself of her touches and kisses. He had to….

No. He had to stay. He had to engage in coitus. He had to get himself cured, even if his partner in bed scared the hell out of him.

So, as with everything that terrified him, Sheldon Cooper resorted to studying his subject.

Ramona freed the blouse from her head, her golden hair bouncing on her shoulders. Sheldon's eyes dropped to her breasts, snug and fit inside a pink brassiere. He suddenly remembered Howard mentioning Ramona had gotten hotter in the last few years, and he had to admit, for once, his leery, engineer friend was right.

Ramona moved over him again. He remained silent as he studied the sensations caused by her fingers pulling up the hem of his shirt and clawing at his abdomen. His mind made calculations of the change in body temperatures as she grinded her hips to his, counted the number of moans she emitted, the speed of her breaths and clocked the intervals of her shivers.

He also made note of the attempts she'd made at capturing his lips with hers.

Eleven. All of it ended with him turning his head away.

Then, he felt Ramona's hands fumbling with the button of his pants.

That's when it finally dawned on him.

"I…I can't…feel anything."

Ramona stopped fiddling and rose to the level of his eyes, her face contorted in concern. "Oh, Dr. Cooper! Have I inadvertently cut off your blood circulation? If I did, I apolo—"

"No. That's not what I meant." Sheldon shook his head, his eyes widening even more. "I don't feel aroused at all."

Ramona gasped and lifted herself away. Sheldon took the opportunity to sit up and swing his legs to the other side of the bed, his eyes on his shoes.

His mind was spiraling in confusion. Why couldn't he feel anything? Events had already proven him susceptible to carnal desires. But why not now? Despite his inexperience, Ramona's earlier ministrations should've been enough to begin the stirrings of sexual appetite. But it had not…so, why? Ramona was female, aesthetically pleasing, and she had even assimilated Penny's physical and inner attributes.

Was it because she_ wasn't_ Penny?

He heard a scream, and turned to see Ramona, half-naked on the floor, pounding at the side of her bed.

"No! This…this can't be happening. I've done everything. Everything to make you want me. How much more of that serum is it going to take?"

"Serum?" Sheldon stood away from the bed, his insides swirling when he suddenly remembered all those times Ramona had given him food and drinks. Remembered the times he thought there was just the slightest change in the tastes, although appetite had made him ignore it. Remembered the pineapple juice earlier, and how it tasted odd, though panic had made him ignore it.

He swallowed. It was all beginning to make sense. "You…you did something to me."

"I had to! How else could I get you to want me?" Ramona cried and jumped across the bed to wrap her arms around his shoulders, her head on his chest. "You don't know what you do to me, Dr. Cooper. You make me feel things I've never felt before. I…I had to do something about it. I had to have you by whatever means necessary."

Sheldon tried to back away, but Ramona only tightened her grip. "You…you drugged me?"

"Triple dosage today!" Ramona yelled in a suddenly chipper voice, and when she looked up, Sheldon paled. This was not Harlequin's or Poison Ivy's smile. It was Joker's. "Maybe it takes a while for the serum to take effect. Silly me. Of course it would work. Dr. Winkle is a brilliant scientist—"

"_Leslie Winkle_ made the serum?" Sheldon gaped at Ramona, who was still grinning like a girl who just made a narrow escape from an asylum.

"Yes, she did. I saw her ad, and I convinced her you would be the perfect subject. I saw the results…your charts. Your libido's been increased. I should know, I've been giving you the serum for two weeks now." Ramona giggled and pulled a leg up to run her knee on Sheldon's crotch. He shuddered, but he imagined it wasn't because of arousal. "How would you like to be stimulated, Dr. Cooper? I believe I'm very well capable of pleasing you. I've studied videos of couples engaging in the act of coitus whilst envisioning myself and—"

Sheldon didn't let her finish. He broke free from her arms and ran out of the room, away from her touches, away from her screams, and ran down two steps at a time until he burst out of the apartment, gasping for air. As if on instinct, his hand shot up in the air, and he did something he had always avoided.

He hailed a cab. After a hard swallow, he slipped in the backseat and drove off, just as Ramona's screams echoed through the sidewalk. He didn't dare turn, and concentrated on the situation at hand.

Ramona had slipped drugs into his food and drinks, and if she were to be believed, had tripled the dosage today.

Leslie Winkle made the drug and had been in cohorts with Ramona.

Two women…two _dastardly_ women had used science against him—one with the purpose of possession, the other perhaps to make him suffer whilst achieving personal goals. He couldn't think of any other motives behind their actions.

"So, where are we headed?"

Sheldon looked up at the driver from the rearview mirror and wiped the sweat forming at his upper lip. He thought of going to a hospital, but as proven the last time, the doctors were incompetent. They'll never find anything.

Caltech? He could confront Leslie, but he knew from past experience she wouldn't crack, and would most likely deny it. He only had Ramona's outburst to go by. He needed solid proof. He had to do some tests on himself. Away from Ramona and Leslie.

Away from Penny.

His fingers tightened on his seatbelt as he felt blood rush to places which made him grind his teeth together. It was starting again, only this time, it was initiated by the mere thought of her name! If he happened to be within close proximity of her…

Sheldon vigorously shook his head. Dear God, he had to take himself away from Pasadena!

Leaning over and holding back a wave of carsickness, he gave the driver directions to his apartment.

He had some packing to do.

**A/N**: Okay guys. Calm now? Were those barf bags useful? Good.

So that leaves us several more questions. Where's Sheldon running off to (as if this isn't obvious enough, LOL)? Does that mean Penny will be waiting in her cute little blue dress for nothing? Is Ramona gonna put her stalker power at optimum levels and find out where Sheldon's running away to so she can follow him? How many chapters more will it take before we can see S/P get it on? Secret! ^_^ I love cliffhangers, as you can probably tell :P

I will however, answer this: When will Chapter 16 come out? Unless by some miracle, not for a little while  There are some side projects I'm working on that's dividing my attention, plus, I'M HAVING ONE HELLUVA WRITER'S BLOCK!!! (I already have the plot for the next chapter, I just don't know for now how to slug through it) Now comments can help chip those blocks away. Seriously, guys, your comments, reactions (violent or otherwise) have helped shaped this story and for that, I am eternally grateful. :D I love you guys, thanks as always for following the fic.


	16. Chapter 16

**Title:**"The Cooper Libido Experiment"**  
****Author:**g_girl143 / gwendy**  
****Rating:**NC-17**  
****Chapters:**16/(?)**  
****Timeline:**Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...**  
****Summary:**There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...**  
****Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.

**A/N:** Check the rating and read. IN PRIVATE!!!

**Chapter 16**

Sheldon ran up two steps at a time until he got to the fourth floor. His eyes instantly darted to 4B's closed door but he quickly shook his head and fumbled with the keys to 4A, muttering for himself to hurry. His body temperature was rising, and he could feel the middle of his pants beginning to form a tent.

Dear God, he had to get himself away from here!

With a twist of the key, he burst into the apartment and ran for his room. He was thankful Leonard, Howard and Rajesh would be at Newark for the night; otherwise he'd be subject to their questioning. Being drugged horny was probably not something his social circle would likely believe…or accept, especially when it involved Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

Dropping to his knees, Sheldon grabbed his pre-packed disaster evacuation bag from beneath his bed and slipped the strap over his shoulder before rummaging his drawers for a bungee cord. He may be desperate, but there was no way he was going to take a plane to Texas.

He paused when the familiar rumbles of a Volkswagen reached his ears. By its own volition, his body moved towards the window, and that's when he saw Penny, stepping out of her just recently parked car.

Sheldon's knees gave away, bringing him to the floor. The stirrings hit him like a freight train, and he didn't realize until moments later that his other hand had moved down to massage the tent in his pants.

"Shit!"

_Good God_. He cursed. He actually cursed! And his damned hand wouldn't stop. He couldn't stop.

He didn't want to stop.

_Pull yourself together, dammit!_ He slapped himself with his free hand until he managed to gain just enough sense to stop his impromptu masturbation and think. Adrenaline made calculations faster, and he realized Penny would arrive at the fourth floor before he could rush out of the apartment.

If he happened to see her…

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Sheldon grabbed his wandering hand again and got himself to his feet. He had to escape. He had to take himself away from Penny. He had to keep himself from hurting Penny. But there was no time. She was surely on the third floor by now, and moving up to their flat.

His eyes darted across his room, and that's when he found himself staring at the bungee cords, sticking out of the drawer.

He now knew what he had to do.

***

Penny rushed up to the fourth floor, her footsteps pounding against the staircase. She didn't care if she disturbed the other tenants. She hadn't even cared about the strange looks thrown her way by Mrs. Groesinger and Mrs. Vartabedian. She had to hurry. She had to get herself good and pretty by the time she got to Giacomo's. She had to…

She froze when she saw the door to 4A was wide open. An image of Sheldon and Ramona, making out inside reared its ugly head in her mind. She felt a gag reflex come on but she held it in and marched inside the apartment.

She almost cried when she found the living room and the kitchen empty, and after a moment of gathering her wits, she ran towards the bedrooms and tugged at Sheldon's door.

It was locked.

Whatever relief she felt earlier dissolved to nausea, and after a shaky breath, she brought a heavy fist against the wood.

***

BAM! BAM! BAM!

"Sheldon!"

BAM! BAM! BAM!

"Sheldon!"

BAM! BAM! BAM!

"Sheldon!"

"Go away, Penny!" Sheldon yelled as loud and as menacingly as he possibly could, and that's how it came out—like the howl of a wounded, vicious animal. He could feel his neck muscles straining, the veins protruding from his skin, pounding blood all through his already throbbing body. Hearing Penny's voice had only made it worse. _Far_ worse.

He came close to asphyxiating when he heard the rattle of his doorknob and the jiggling of keys. He had anticipated that, which was why he had slipped on the deadbolt.

Penny hammered on the door again, and he shut his eyes, praying almost, for her to for once obey him and leave. Praying almost for her to at least not say anything.

The mere sound of her voice was becoming too much for him.

"Sheldon, please…" She sounded as though she was crying, but there were other thoughts in Sheldon's head, and he bit down hard on his lower lip. "Sheldon, you can't have sex with Ramona. You just can't."

"You're right, I _cannot _have sex with Ramona," he fired, pulling up his body as much as it was allowed. His muscles ached, and he knew he was close to tearing tendons, but this was the only way, even if he had to suffer for it. "It wasn't for the lack of trying. I did try but I couldn't. Now please, go away!"

He heard Penny's sharp intake of breath from the other side of the door. "You mean…you're alone in there?

"Of course I am. No one can be in my bedroom. Why do you think I locked it if not to specifically keep you out?"

"Keep _me_ out?"

"Penny, I don't want to hurt you!" He was biting his lip again, and his legs were kicking and flailing on the bed, his body wanting nothing more than to break open the door and fuse itself with Penny's body. He'd done all he could to ensure that wouldn't happen, even if it was at his own expense. "Ramona did something to me. She—"

"I know what's going on, Sheldon. Leslie told me about the serum."

Sheldon stopped moving about and stared at the door with wide eyes. For the first time that day, he waited to hear Penny's voice, but he heard no response. Only the echo of her footsteps moving away from the door.

He managed to suppress the urge to call her back, and let his head fall to the pillows. He shut his eyes, his upper teeth burying themselves at his lip once more.

Penny knew about the serum. She must've gone inside Caltech earlier and confronted Leslie Winkle. How like her, he thought, to get to the bottom of things, and he felt desire course through his body like a deluge. He'd underestimated her intelligence once again, and damned if it didn't make him want her even more. But perhaps, now that she knew, she would do well to stay away. This was a dangerous situation.

_He_ was a danger to her.

He blinked when he heard the clanking of metal outside, and when he turned, he saw, to his chagrin—and delight—Penny, coming down from the fire escape and opening the window.

He'd underestimated her yet again.

***

Penny almost gasped when she saw Sheldon. It wasn't because of his flushed, sweaty face, and his damp, wrinkled shirt, or his smoldering blue eyes, which devoured every inch of her, or of his swollen lower lip.

Sheldon Cooper had tied himself to the bed with bungee cords, and she imagined only physics could explain how he had managed to do it, especially since his headboard didn't have bedposts. One more look, and she saw he had tied the cords to the pegs at the foot of his bed.

Penny stepped inside the room, her tongue darting out to wet her suddenly dry lips. This…seeing Sheldon tied up on his bed like this, seeing him breathe heavily as he gaped at her in anticipation, was an unexpected and complete turn on.

"Penny…I told you to leave."

Penny swallowed. He hadn't just said it. He'd growled it, and the way he did made her blood boil.

_You need to have hot, animal sex with Dr. Dumbass Cooper._

She let out a shaky breath…and began unbuttoning her blouse.

Sheldon visibly shook. "P-Penny…"

"I talked to Leslie…and she told me about the experiment." The first button came off. "She told me how Ramona's been in on it, because she wanted you…but it hadn't worked." Second button. Third button. Sheldon was groaning with the revelation of her skin. She was not far from moaning herself, seeing him turned on like this, _knowing _for a fact Sheldon Cooper was aroused, but dark thoughts kept her from savoring a moment she never thought she would ever see.

One flick of her fingers, and the last button came undone. She saw Sheldon bare his teeth to her as she shrugged off the blouse, exposing her blue strapless bra.

"Penny…" Sheldon rasped, then let out a deep, guttural sound. "Penny…don't do this. What happened last time could—"

"You didn't have control over yourself…and it's partly my fault." Penny reached down to unbutton her shorts. She felt like crying when she remembered everything Leslie had explained to her. It was strange—this mixture of arousal and depression, but it didn't stop her from lowering her zipper, Sheldon's loud intake of breath ringing in her ears. "Leslie told me I've been…my body's been giving off sex scents. Like in that program on Discovery Channel."

"Pheromones…" Sheldon breathed, his blue eyes beginning to glaze over.

"Yeah, that." Penny tried her best to put on a sexy smile. She didn't have to look in a mirror to know she failed miserably. "It's the serum that's making you…react to me. There's no cure except…" She clamped her lips shut, finishing her sentence by slipping off her shorts.

Sheldon shook his head. "Penny…no. I'll…I'll hurt you."

"Tied up like that?" Penny managed a small chuckle before moving up to the bed in her underwear and straddling Sheldon. They both gasped when she positioned herself on his bulge, and she braced herself with her hands on either side of Sheldon's head, her hair falling over his face. This was what she needed to concentrate on. To hell with feelings and emotions. This was going to be nothing but pure sex for wholly legitimate and scientific reasons.

There was no magic in the world. Everything can be broken down to cold, hard facts.

Penny shook away from her musings and began to grind against Sheldon. He moaned, and bucked his hips upward in time with the undulating of her hips, the barrier of clothing only adding friction until Penny felt her entire body tingle.

She lowered her head to kiss him, and as expected, his tongue eagerly darted inside her mouth. This time, she was ready, and met his tongue with every thrust, every curl and every lick, moaning into his mouth and swallowing his breaths, their noses bumping and rubbing against the other.

"Penny…don't force yourself to…do this…" Sheldon protested between kisses, though clearly without much conviction. Penny felt a sudden surge of gratitude that he was taking her feelings into consideration, but she quickly pushed the notion away.

This was just sex. No magic, no fluffy pink clouds, or sparkles floating in the air. Just cold, hard, sex.

She reached up to cup his face with her hands, holding him in place while deepening the kiss, suckling his tongue and exploring the roof of his mouth, her hips still undulating on top of his. She could feel him strain against his trousers; feel her inner walls begin to stretch and pulse with each buck of his hips. She could feel her skin begin to catch fire, and wanted nothing more than to have Sheldon's fingers…Sheldon Cooper's damned, wonderful fingers run all over her. She wanted him to hold her in his arms, like he did that one night in her room, to tighten his grip around her until she could barely breathe.

But she couldn't risk that. Sheldon was right when he told her he could hurt her. This…one-sided sex would be the best and most logical choice for both of them.

Then, she tasted blood. She pulled back a little and saw Sheldon biting his lip again, his face contorted in pain. His shoulders were shaking, and when Penny followed his arms with her eyes, she saw his hands were turning purple, and the bungee cords had cut to his skin, making his wrists bleed.

_He will get worse and worse until he loses control and will quite possibly hurt others and himself…_

No. She couldn't let it go on like this.

Sheldon almost whimpered when Penny lifted herself away. His mind had been screaming at the danger of this, not just for himself but for her as well. He wanted to stop and he wanted to go on, but his body would only listen to his latter desires. He wanted, _needed_ Penny, but when he felt her fingers begin to tug at the cords around his wrists, he blanched at the full force of the recollections—of him losing control while Penny begged him to stop.

"What are you doing?" He tried pulling his arm away, futile as it may be, but she remained at the side of the bed, fumbling with the knots until it began to loosen. "Penny, no!"

"You're hurting yourself, Sheldon."

"I've been drugged! What part of that do you not understand?" Sheldon roared, gasping when his one hand came loose and would've grabbed at Penny had she not moved quickly enough. He took mouthfuls of air, feeling as though he had just run a marathon. His entire body was pulsing, screaming to be pleasured but he managed to call forth memories of the night before to restrain himself. "Ramona tricked me into ingesting higher concentrations of the serum. If you set me free, who knows what I would be capable of?"

"I don't care."

She was loosening the cords of his other hand. Pleasure and panic shot through him like a bullet, and he found himself flipping to his side and grabbing her wrist. How he managed to stop himself from licking and sucking her fingers, he could only attribute to what little remained of his sanity.

"You don't know what you're saying…" he growled and looked up at her with the deadliest glare he could muster. "I might _rape_ you."

There. He'd said it as bluntly and as horrifically as possible. Penny's stubbornness had left him no choice.

"No, you wouldn't," she whispered, making him wince. He wanted to ask why she always had to refute him, but her next words stopped him cold. "It's not rape if it's consensual. I want to do this, Sheldon. And this may not mean anything to you...but it will to me."

One more tug, and the last of the cords fell to the floor.

Before Penny could take her next breath, Sheldon shot off the bed and rammed her into the wall, gasps exploding out of her with the impact. She shut her eyes and waited, but other than pinning her to the wall, Sheldon didn't move. She could feel his warm breath on her cheeks, his heart beating against her breasts, his erection throbbing against her stomach.

She slowly opened her eyes and found his blazing blue ones staring at her, his mouth hanging open with each of his heavy, but controlled breaths. "P…Penny…whatever happens…please forgive me."

Then, he was kissing her, his tongue slipping between her lips and exploring the caverns of her mouth with incessant hunger. His other hand reached down to pull her leg up against his waist, and Penny released a moan into his mouth when he moved himself against her. Being clad in only her underwear seemed to have made his grinding more erotic, and she wanted in the worst way to strip him down. She reached for the hem of his shirt, only to have her hands batted away as Sheldon pulled back and took off the layers of his clothing himself.

The way he practically ripped his shirts off shot liquid desire through Penny's veins. She helped him tug the last shirt off before welcoming his frenzied lips once more, almost crying at the feel of his chest hair against the top of her breasts.

Sheldon broke off the kiss and suddenly spun her around, pinning her front to the wall. She could feel his length, still restrained by his trousers, throbbing between the cleft of her buttocks, and her mind reeled at what he might be about to do.

She felt a snap, and realized he had just ripped her bra off. He pressed his chest tightly against her back, and she gasped when he reached in from behind to cup her breast while his tongue swirled at the side of her neck.

"Sheldon…"

She almost shrieked with ecstasy when his tongue darted to lick her ear, his hand still palming her breast and pinching her already erect nipple, his body still pressing from behind her.

A small shift, and she felt his other arm move between the wall and the flat of her stomach, his palm running through her abdomen before disappearing inside the waistband of her panties.

"Oh, God," Penny cried out when she finally felt his fingers where she'd needed it the most, and if he hadn't been holding her, she could've sworn she would've crumpled to the floor. His thumb stroked her already engorged clit, and she let out a series of moans which evolved into a muffled scream when he finally penetrated her with a finger.

He must've taken her reactions differently. "Penny, forgive me…I…I can't help myself." He leaned forward and began sucking at her neck where the scratch mark was—the scratch he'd been responsible for. Penny could only describe the feeling as exquisite torture, whimpering when he inserted two fingers this time and began moving them about her slippery walls. "I want you…to touch you everywhere…" A nip. A suck. A stroke and a frantic in-and-out movement of fingers. . Penny could form nothing more coherent than a gasp. "I can't stop…"

"Don't…" Penny managed to breathe through the sensual assault, rocking her hips against Sheldon's hand, losing herself in pure bliss when his digits move in deeper, stroking and pushing inside her. "Don't stop…"

He didn't. He continued to probe her, only to take his hand away a short while later. Penny started to groan in complaint when she felt him drag down her panties and wiggle out of his trousers.

He entered her from behind before his pants hit the floor.

"Oh dear God!"

Penny wasn't sure who had cried out. Maybe she did. Maybe Sheldon did. Maybe they both did. She didn't care. Nothing else mattered but the feel of his chest, heaving against her shoulder blades, his long fingered hands clasping at her sides, and his length, finally pulsing inside her swollen walls the way she had since realized she wanted it to.

Sheldon must've been just as shocked at the union as she was, because he remained stiff and unmoving, and Penny took the opportunity to gather herself from the onslaught of sensations running through her body.

She'd been right when she once thought of Sheldon as a _big boy_, although she'd long since expected that he was, after first seeing him in his briefs years ago. If anyone told her then she would actually get to _feel_ him, she would've laughed until her eyes watered.

Her eyes were watering now, but for a far different reason. Sheldon had yanked her head back by the hair and was sucking at her neck again, his other hand moving between her and the wall to grab her breast.

He began to move. She struggled to catch her breath as he surged up and down from behind her, pressing and sliding her body against the wall, his hand still squeezing her breast and occasionally pinching and tugging her nipple while the other let go of her hair and once again, reached down to rub her clit.

"Oh, God, Sheldon!" Penny positively quivered. Sheldon was relentless in his caresses, in his penetrations, which finally caught rhythm, in his sucking and licking her neck and the side of her face.

She should've known he would multitask with everything, even this.

Penny tried to meet his thrusts, but being pushed to a wall hardly gave her freedom of movement. She didn't want this to be just one-sided after all, much as she was writhing in ecstasy from it.

She was going to show him just what a big ol five can do.

Penny struggled and managed to push herself away from the wall with her arms, but Sheldon pushed a palm against her back, lowering her into an all too familiar position. She just never thought she'd be doing it thisway with _him_, of all people, and her moans rose several octaves as he continued to pump into her from behind, his hands grabbing her waist, her breasts swaying beneath her as she supported herself with her palms against the wall.

An even hotter flush shot up to her face when she suddenly remembered Leslie's advice. _This_ was following it too literally, and she nearly came at the mere thought of it.

It was only a miracle that saved her from going over the edge. With a deep breath, she pushed back to meet him, purposefully contracting around his length.

"Oh, good Lord, Penny!"

Penny smirked. If he thought that serum-induced hormonal rampage gave him the right to do everything, he's got another thing coming.

_Dammit, I shouldn't have thought that!_

Penny gathered herself once more and relentlessly pushed back at Sheldon, constricting him with her inner walls. She could've sworn he howled, and she felt his stomach quiver.

_Yes_, she thought, squeezing him inside her and rolling her hips into his. She was going to make him lose himself in her. She was going to blow his beautiful mind off the face of the planet.

She forcefully thrust herself back at him, muffling her cry when she felt him hit her deep.

"Shit!"

Penny's eyes flew open. Did Sheldon just curse?

"Oh, fuck, Penny!"

God, he _was_ cursing! Sheldon Cooper was actually cursing, and now he was leaning on her, his hands grabbing her swaying breasts, his mouth trailing wet kisses on her shoulder.

"Penny…Shit…fuck!"

"Oh, son of a bitch!" She was the one cursing this time. She hadn't even been able to imagine Sheldon using those words, let alone realize how much of a turn on it would actually be. And he was moving faster this time. Just hammering at her, back and forth, sliding effortlessly into her wetness and hitting her core with every charge.

Her arms began to shake. She could barely hold herself against the wall anymore. The small of her stomach was starting to flutter, and soon, the waves spread through her body, making her skin warm until she felt it was catching fire.

"Shel…shit!" Penny cried out as her orgasm rocked through her, weakening her legs and forcing her to lean her cheek against the wall as Sheldon continued to charge at her. She heard him spit obscenities again, felt him throbbing inside her tender flesh. Without warning, he exploded inside her in waves, and she almost came again from the liquid heat of him.

Penny took mouthfuls of air, her breaths in gasps, Sheldon still leaning on her. She could feel his sweaty forehead buried at her neck, his raspy breaths on her shoulder blades, and if it hadn't been for his arms holding her in place, she would've collapsed to the floor.

He slowly slid out of her, and she started to let out an exhausted sigh when he suddenly swept her in his arms and dropped her onto the bed. She blinked away her shock and found him hovering above her, his eyes on hers, still smoldering…possessive…

He grabbed her legs and anchored her knees over his shoulders, and that's when Penny realized he was still hard.

"Oh, God!" Penny threw her head back on the pillow when Sheldon drove his entire length inside her, deeper than she'd felt him, his thrusts faster and harder. She could almost hear the slap of flesh against flesh over their moans, and feel the sweat drops from his temples fall to her face as he knelt and plunged himself in and out of her, his hands grabbing her hips and pulling her to him.

And she let him. She let him do as he pleased, let him drop to smother her with suffocating, tongue-laced kisses, let him claw, bite and suck…because she was doing exactly the same.

Sheldon Cooper was losing himself…and she couldn't think of a better place than in her.

It took several kisses, caresses, curses and positions before Sheldon finally slowed. Penny lost count of her orgasms and his, and she doubted she'd be even able to form a coherent thought once this was over.

She'd wanted to whack Dr. Sheldon Cooper's beautiful mind off the face of the Earth, but in the end, he was the one who whacked hers. She'd never had such mind-blowing sex, and for the first time since she learned about it, she was goddamn thankful for the serum.

But as time ticked by and the afterglow began to fade, it came back to her that this was all it was. Sex. For wholly legitimate and scientific reasons. Earth shattering, sure, but it was just sex. Nothing more.

And when she saw that Sheldon had fallen asleep with his back towards her, she began to cry.

There was no magic in the world. Everything could be broken down to cold, hard facts.

**A/N:** *wipes sweat off forehead* Whew. And this…THIS is why it took me a while. I had to struggle for days with this. There was just too much pressure with all the build up from the previous chapters that I had to pull off all the stops. I hope you…er…enjoyed it :P Be gentle though, this is the smuttiest I've ever written for a Sheldon/Penny fic, and my most detailed smut ever, fan fiction or novel wise. And awwww….sorry guys, had to add the angst back again for continuity purposes  .

On an even sadder note…and some of you may know, I learned just the other that our beloved family German Shepherd of 9 years died over the weekend…I can't begin to state how devastated I am right now. This won't affect the next chapter though, as I've long since finished it, even before I knew. But please do allow me a little time to grieve…

Here's my blog on dear Axel…. http : // g-girl143. livejournal. Com / 17551 .html

SPOILERS for the next chapter  COLON OPEN PARENTHESIS

Sorry. I'm feeling miserable… Update will be done over the weekend for the next chapter

ON A LIGHTER NOTE:

omg! OMG OMG! Did you see the promos for episode 3?!!!

http : // www. Youtube .com / watch ? v = oKs0IeYJy3s


	17. Chapter 17

**Title: **"The Cooper Libido Experiment"  
**Author:** g_girl143 / gwendy  
**Rating: **PG-13  
**Chapters: **17/17  
**Timeline:** Post L/P...beyond Post L/P...  
**Summary: **There are times when the thing you love the most will cause your downfall. In the case of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, that would be Science...  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters or the series and am not making any money out of this despite putting my sweat and blood into it. So save me the lawsuits and just allow a beggar to indulge in fantasies. Thank you.  
**A/N: **Are you surprised by the new banner? YES YES YES! IT'S THE FINAL CHAPTER! Watch out for my bunny. And get a screwdriver, a wrench, pliers, or anything, because, you'll need something to twist your head back the right way once this is over :P

**Chapter 17**

Penny stirred awake, and after several blinks, saw shadows and lights playing along an unfamiliar ceiling. She reached for her bedside lamp, but only swiped at thin air.

It took a moment and a sudden jolt of dull pain from almost every part of her body to remind her she was still in Sheldon's room after a very lengthy romp in the sack.

She glanced at the clock. It was almost eleven. Leonard, Howard and Raj were probably still in Newark, and being that the marathon included the new Star Wars Anakin Skywalker movies, she knew Leonard wouldn't be coming home any time soon.

Still, she gingerly began to pull herself away from the bed, careful not to make too much movement. She'd done her job. Sheldon's cured (although she really won't know for sure until he woke up) and she finally got laid by someone she'd wanted to get laid by. Everyone won. Everyone should be happy.

She still felt like crap.

Taking a deep breath to ward off the beginning of sobs, she rose from the bed.

"Penny?"

She froze midway from standing, and turned to look at Sheldon. Some time that night, he had resettled himself in the middle of the bed, hands folded at his stomach, the sprinkle of hair on his chest, where the comforter failed to cover, sparkling in the moonlight.

Penny moved her eyes to his face. He was looking at her, but she couldn't meet his eyes. "You'll be fine now, Sheldon. Leslie told me that once we…once we finished doing this, you'll be okay. Like that program in Discovery Channel."

"I suppose," Sheldon breathed and turned his head so his gaze was now on the ceiling. "I need to do tests on myself at a later date, but I'm confident I have regained a sense of normalcy, as I no longer have the uncontrollable urge to copulate."

"That's…that's good to hear." Penny felt her heart break a little. What did she expect, anyway? Why did she have to constantly remind herself that this was just sex for a reason? "Well…I guess I better get going. I don't want to interrupt your sleep patterns or anything."

"It's unfortunately too late for that. The night's events as well as your presence have disrupted my routine and I doubt I shall be falling into step with my circadian rhythms tonight."

Penny tightened her lips. She felt a twinge of anger burn at the back of her head, and she rapidly began to fan it.

Better hate than hurt.

"A simple 'get out' would've been enough, you know," she managed to say without snapping. "You never had trouble telling me that before."

"I'm not telling you to leave." He turned to her again, and she suddenly remembered the time he'd slept over at her apartment. The look he was giving her was the same one he wore before asking her to sing 'Soft Kitty' to him. "If you want me to be more concise and direct to the point, what I want is for us to stay up and talk."

"Just let me sing for you and be done with it," she muttered. "That's what you want, right?"

"Nooo…" Sheldon stressed the last vowel and shook his head in one gentle sweep. Penny was once again hit by a bout of déjà vu. "I want us to stay up and talk."

Penny sighed and flopped back down on the bed. She was so not in the mood to talk right now. "Sheldon, if you want to discuss…this…" she moved a finger back and forth between them, "let's discuss it tomorrow. I'm tired and I want to sleep in my own bed."

"Do you know the average number of people in attendance at Comic Con every year?"

Penny frowned at him. She should've known he'd ignore her protests. He was back to the normal, annoying and overbearing Sheldon she'd known for years.

Well, at least she knew how to deal with _this_ Sheldon, she thought, and the best way to stop his questions was just to answer them. "No, I don't know."

"One hundred and sixty-thousand," Sheldon answered, and Penny had to bite her tongue to stop herself from saying anything sarcastic, or from screaming 'Why the hell did you ask me if you knew?' "And it continues to increase with each succeeding year, as you may have seen for yourself in this year's Comic Con. Do you also know how many adults collect the limited edition My Little Ponies and attend Comic Con specifically for these collectibles?"

Something was beginning to flutter in Penny's chest, but she smothered it with annoyance. She didn't want to jump to any ideas. "No, I don't know."

"Neither do I, as the statistics have not been entirely tabulated," Sheldon shrugged. "But from what I can say from experience, is that there are quite a number willing to produce the necessary funds to acquire rare or limited edition items. At first I thought it was ludicrous, but then I would probably do the same if a mint condition Batman comic book autographed by Bob Kane were to be put up for auction—"

"Sheldon, you're losing me here."

"Oh, sorry." Penny caught Sheldon licking his lips, the way he always did when he was nervous. If he didn't interest her earlier, he certainly did now. "As it was, I spent several hours lining up, practically fighting with other collectors whilst in my Spock costume before I managed to acquire the Rapunzel pony, which I had later arranged to be shipped to the apartment, rather than have you and the others see me with the purchase. Other precautions were then taken so as not to compromise the item's presence, especially since your birthday wasn't until four months after Comic Con."

The flutter Penny had felt in her chest earlier stirred again, and this time, she couldn't ignore it. She knew Sheldon had gone through lengths to get Rapunzel for her. He had just never admitted it …until now. "What are you saying, Sheldon?"

Again, he licked his lips, and his hands were fidgeting when he spoke. "I'm saying you're giving the drugs far too much credit than my own regard for you."

Penny's breath caught. This time, she was able to lock her eyes with his, and in his blue eyes, she saw the reflection of…

…her own hope.

Dammit, she had to stop jumping to conclusions. "Sheldon, even back then you smelled my pheromones. Leslie said you have this viagranasal organ—"

"It's vomeronasal, not viagranasal. It seems like an apt name, so it's an understandable but inexcusable mistake."

Penny rolled her eyes. "Whatever, you still have it. You smelled me and liked me."

Sheldon's lips pursed in obvious annoyance, and she cocked a brow at him, daring him…wishing actually…to refute her.

"If it is true that I am only reacting to you because of the serum and my activated vomeronasal organ…" Sheldon pushed himself to a sitting position, and Penny, feeling the sudden urge to pull him to her, shifted herself a little ways off. "…then I would have reacted to Ramona at a stronger degree, being that she is the one who has been 'courting' me, so to speak. But I did not. I tried to initiate coitus with her but failed at arousal…something I have never failed to acquire with you, and this began the very first moment I saw you through the open door of your apartment."

This time, Penny couldn't come up with a reply. God knows she tried to think of something, anything to slap her out of her deluded visions. No, there was no way in hell that Sheldon Cooper was admitting he'd fallen in love with her at first sight.

After a moment of silence, Sheldon continued. "Penny...I remember you saying I had no idea about the value of the Rapunzel pony…but I did. I have done my research on your likes and dislikes, and know it is the rarest of the My Little Pony franchise. The hormones which dictated my unforgivable actions in the past week, I believe were also what drove me to purchase the item, only I refused to acknowledge it, attributing it solely to the law of reciprocity and the dictates of friendship. If you should give the drugs credit, then it would have to be for increasing the production of those hormones, thus making my body act upon what my mind has refused for years to believe."

Oh God, he was admitting it. He was admitting it, wasn't he? "T-To believe...that what?"

Sheldon didn't even hesitate. "That I have strong chemical and physiological reactions to you. That my blood circulation, pulse rate and temperature rise at the mere sight of you. That my sweat glands produce moisture at the nearness of you. That the hair on my skin rise as in the phenomena commonly known as goosebumps whenever you touch me. That my heart constricts though not in an unpleasant way, whenever you manage to defy my logic or overpower me with your will."

Penny was too shocked for words, and she was suddenly taken back to six months ago, when the boys had given her a private birthday bash. She'd kissed Leonard and Raj's cheeks for their gifts and almost slapped Howard.

But Sheldon…she'd kissed him on the lips in front of the others and she hadn't even cared. She hadn't because she realized then that she…

…she loved him. She truly did, and she'd damned well been in denial.

It all made sense now. Those six sexless months were not because of the lack of opportunity. There'd been plenty of men.

But there was only one Sheldon.

He must've taken her silence as though she hadn't understood. "If you wish for me to put it in layman's terms, I unfortunately have not studied enough urban slang to communicate it. Hormones control what human beings feel. And it seems...I have had large concentrations of these hormones overrunning the inner workings of my system for several years now and—"

"Geez, Sheldon, is it that difficult for you to say you love me?" Penny blurted, her face bursting with smiles.

Sheldon's brows met in a frown. "But...I don't love you."

"Oh." The arms which she had begun to raise to hug him fell to her sides once more. Whatever wonderful, pink, happy balloon which had bloomed inside her only a moment ago deflated, and she had to look away, lest he see her tears. _What the hell did you expect, Penny? This is Sheldon for crying out loud!_ "O-Of course you don't. What was I thinking? You just have the hots for me and—"

She stopped when she felt his hand on top of hers. She turned and saw his face was a mirror of seriousness, his blue eyes luminescent even in the poor light. "Penny…I don't love you because…I don't believe love is sufficient to describe what I feel and have been feeling for you. I don't think any word would suffice."

Penny felt as though the world had just stopped turning. She could care less if it did…or if she just died right there and then.

Maybe she already did. Because she'd never felt this content…or this happy.

It wasn't until she felt the tears running down her cheeks that she realized she was crying, even more so when Sheldon moved to put his hands on her shoulders.

"Penny...did I say anything offensive?"

"N-No. Just hormones I guess." Penny smiled through her tears and began to wipe them away. "I guess I agree with you. I don't love you either."

"Good." The smile he gave her was small but sweet—like the time he first taught her how to play Age of Conan; the time she accepted his offer to loan her money; the time he watched her open her birthday gift; but this was different. This was meaningful. "Then, we are in agreement that what we feel for each other is unquantifiable and indescribable."

Penny didn't think she could be any more shaken than she already was, and fresh tears began to fall as she leaned over to bury her head at the nook of Sheldon's neck. She let out a sob when he put his arms around her.

"Indescribable..." she sniffled. "I like that."

"Penny, you're still crying," he complained, though the concern in his voice was clear as a bell. "It's hormones, you say? Did the act of coitus transfer some of the serum to you? Because although we did share bodily fluids—"

She put a finger on his lips. "Why don't you shut up now, okay honey?" She took her finger away and replaced it with her lips. "You've said enough...you've said more than enough..."

They kissed for a little while; softly, tentatively, no incessant hunger; just a simple dance of lips upon lips, but it was probably the sweetest thing Penny had ever known.

In a way, this was her first kiss with the real Dr. Sheldon Cooper, and she knew then she'd want him to be the last one to ever kiss her like this.

Then, he pulled back. "Can I say one last thing?"

Penny narrowed her eyes at him. "Only if it doesn't involve bodily fluids."

"Well...no. But Penny..."

"Yeah?"

He reached for her hand and put it over his heart. She could feel the steady beats against his chest, and she imagined hers were in the same rapid, exhilarating pace. "You said earlier that this will not mean something to me…but it does. It does mean something."

She smiled. The whack-a-doodle was just too sweet. "I think I already got the idea a while ago."

"And also..."

"You said one last thing, Sheldon." Penny pushed him down the bed and straddled him. "Now, shut up and let me do the work this time."

It wouldn't be until around a month or so later that she would learn what he had been about to say. This time though, it came with a ring.

***

Leslie Winkle gave one last click of the mouse and sent cards flying out of the screen from her solitaire game. She moved her eyes away from the computer and frowned at the clock. It was getting late, but she couldn't leave the lab unless…

Her office door flew open, and in came a livid Ramona Nowitzki.

"About time," Leslie smirked, but remained where she was seated on her swivel chair. "I was going to call the police and send a search party after you. How'd it go with Dr. Dumbass?"

"It didn't work…again!" Ramona shrieked, her hands in the air. Her eyeliner was smeared and her lipstick was streaked across her jaw. Leslie thought she looked like the female version of Joker…except creepier; but heck if she was gonna be scared. "I gave him triple the dosage. Triple! And you showed me the lab results. I've been the one emitting higher concentrations of pheromones. Not Penny. Unless you somehow switched the vials—"

"Nope. I didn't. I gave you the same serum I've been giving you for weeks." Leslie shrugged. "However, it wasn't until recently I discovered a flaw in the formula, at least, when it came to human subjects."

Ramona's eyes almost bugged out of their sockets. "A…flaw?"

"Yup." Leslie nodded. "Aside from increasing the libido, it actually lessens inhibitions, but not desires. Ergo, it acts almost like liquor, which is why I'm giving up on the experiment on the basis that it's pointless since such a substance with the same effects already exists."

Ramona's jaw dropped. Leslie counted in her head to five, and sure enough, Ramona snapped…verbally.

"You bitch," she screamed. "You can't fucking do that! I'm going to have you sued. Yes, that's what I'll do. My dad's a lawyer. I'll make sure to tell him and everyone that you unlawfully and unethically subjected Dr. Cooper to this experiment without his knowledge and—"

"You're forgetting something," Leslie interrupted in a bored tone, and held up a piece of paper. She almost laughed at the look on Ramona's face. "Yes, that's the contract. I believe your father would be able to understand the terms of this secrecy agreement, and that involves me suing your ass if this thing ever gets out."

"You bitch!"

"That I am," Leslie admitted, still smirking as she pointed to four corners of the room. "And did I mention I have security cameras? Had them on since the first day you dropped by and proposed the experiment. So yes, I would actually prefer that you sue me. That way I can collect a great settlement which I may be able to use as funding for more important research."

Ramona's entire body shook, like a rocket about to launch. Then, with one last screech, she ran out of the office, slamming the door along the way.

Leslie stood up and took her time locking the door. The variable has been removed. Success rate of the experiment was up 99.95%. The only thing she needed to do now was place the call.

She took out her cell phone and dialed. The answer came after five rings.

"I did it," she muttered. "Dr. Dumbass is sure to be in bed with Malibu Barbie by now."

"You're sure?"

"You wanna go check yourself?"

"I don't think I should."

"I don't think you should either. They're probably still humping like rabbits. What I would want you to do, though, is to reward me for all the hard work I've done."

"Is that an invitation for me to come over?"

"Yes. And don't forget your end of the deal."

Male laughter came from the other end of the line. "The deal was to get Dr. Sheldon Cooper married first before I accept your marriage proposal."

"Oh, trust me, he will be. Give it a month, he will be."

"So you're predicting that in a single month, you will have accomplished what I've failed to do for years?"

"Nothing a good libido enhancer can't fix. Besides, with the history you gave me surrounding those two, it won't be surprising they would get married that soon. So what say you, Dr. Hofstader?"

"I'll see you at their wedding, Mrs. Hofstader."

"_Future_ Mrs. Hofstader." Leslie corrected. "I already gave you the specifics of the engagement ring I desire. Make sure you deliver the proposal to me after you give your best man speech."

"Still want to steal the limelight from Sheldon?"

"Hey. He may be your best friend but he's still a dumbass in my book."

***

Leonard smiled as he said goodbye to Leslie and slipped his cell phone back in his pocket.

God, he loved that woman. She was strong where he was weak, and he was soft where she was hard. They compliment each other, much like Sheldon and Penny did. He knew he was thinking all kinds of sickly sweet nothings, but he was too happy to think himself silly.

It wasn't as though anyone could read his thoughts. No one could, which was why he'd been able to lie through his teeth, starting with his reaction to seeing Penny kiss Sheldon on the lips during her birthday. He'd acted uncomfortable, jealous even, but what he had in mind was the realization of exactly how deeply Sheldon and Penny felt for each other, and a worm of a plan.

Unfortunately, his subtle ways of playing cupid resulted in even subtler, if not non-existent results.

Then, by some twist of fate (good karma, if Raj were to be asked), Leslie had proposed to him and they'd struck a deal, which resulted in weeks of nocturnal lab work with her, giving him the perfect excuse to have Sheldon and Penny spend more time together. Ramona's entering the scene while Leslie was looking for human test subjects for the serum was all too perfect, though Leonard had to admit using Stephanie later was crossing the line, but it was necessary.

Well, that was done now. The Cooper Libido Experiment (he'd coined that, though Leslie still insisted they should've added 'dumbass' somewhere) couldn't have been more successful. It was ironic, Leonard thought, that it took Science, Sheldon's first love, to make him realize it's _not_ his first love after all.

Leonard whistled to himself as he exited the men's room and back inside the theater. He and Leslie deserved a Nobel Prize for this really, but he could settle for some hot animal sex with her later.

"What did I miss?" he asked as he slipped in beside Raj and grabbed some popcorn.

"Dude, you totally missed Princess Leia in her metal bikini."

"What call would be so important to make you miss that?" Howard called from Raj's left. "It was the single most shining moment of—"

"Sheldon dumped Ramona," Leonard interrupted. Raj and Howard both leaned over to look at him, and he took in a mouthful of popcorn to hide his smile. "Didn't I tell you everything would be fine?"

The two men nodded and drew back to their seats.

The next few minutes were spent in relative silence.

"Howard," Raj called without taking his eyes off the screen, "Can you pass me the nachos?"

Silence.

"Howard?"

Leonard leaned over to look at Raj's left and found an empty seat.

***

A few days later…

"Howard, it's the phone!"

"I know it's the phone, Ma! I heard it the first time."

"Well, answer it for crying out loud! It's your Indian friend, he says it's Wednesday so it's Halo Night."

"I know what day it is Ma! You're not the one who plays Halo on Wednesdays, you know."

"Just answer it already! I need to use it and you're not the one who pays the telephone bills you know."

Howard groaned, annoyed that he didn't have a retort for that. He started to reach for the phone when a manicured hand slid along his arm and held the receiver down.

"Mr. Wolowitz, do you think a night of mindless shooting at virtual enemies would aid you in acquiring a PhD to go with your Masters degree?"

Howard craned his neck a little to look at Ramona Nowitzki, who was still sprawled naked beside him. She was still blonde and damned hot, but the look she was giving him now made him shudder. "Uhm…not exactly, but studies have shown videogames actually increase brain power—"

"It does not change the fact that Halo has no relation to your career as an engineer," Ramona snapped. "The reason why your friends disrespect you is because of your lack of a PhD. You need to prove them wrong by getting one. Now march on over to your desk and study."

"Y-Yes, Ma'am," Howard rose from the bed and slipped on his pajama bottoms before heading for the text books on his desk. He gave one more glance at Ramona, who was now sitting up with the covers to her chest, her grin spreading to her ears.

Howard began thinking that perhaps this had not been the brightest of ideas he'd acted upon.

**THE END**

**A/N:** *smiles* So…got your heads twisted back the right way? I'm still seeing the back of your heads from here. Okay, good. Got stiff necks? Worry about that later.

Oh, did I mention that the bunny I told you to watch out for would be cute, cuddly, fuzzy and fluffy? I mean come on, after all the angst, we deserve some fluff right? Blame Sheldon's confessions on Michael Bolton!

_I said I loved you but I was wrong  
'Coz love could never ever feel this strong_

So…how'd you like the twists? I think I mentioned even in the first chapter that Leslie's going along with this scheme has a purpose. And I wanna know…did anyone see Leonard coming? I mean, I was dropping clues like crazy but it's either I was too subtle, or all the Ramona hate smothered it, LOL. Try re-reading the fic, but if you don't have time, here are some of the hints I'd dropped: Leonard, whispering Penny's name to Sheldon with the whole sandwich slicing; Leslie, knowing it was Stephanie who left the earring in her dad (recall also the conversation Leslie had with someone after the Barnett confrontation, it was Leonard she was talking to); Leonard, coming home to get 'research papers' then offering a handkerchief to Penny to dry her tears (we find that same handkerchief in Leslie's lab, in a zip-loc bag); Leonard, leading Penny to the bulletin board that had Leslie's ad on it (guess who the two people who tacked it back up there are); the all too perfect timing of Leonard and the guys going for a Star Wars marathon at Newark. Hmm…I think that actually covers almost everything.

And about the Ramona/Howard hook-up? Come on, who else can be creepier than Howard? HAHAHA! When this idea came up, I just ROFLed! My betas, **gemsile123 and **

******life_coveter ** loved the idea too. Gah! Me brain thinks I should ship Howard/Ramona, along with Leslie/Leonard, Missy/Raj and well, you know my other ship LOL. 

There might still be some holes, some questions, but the fic's finished. It was a great run, and I'm almost sad that it's over but we all had fun I think.

Thanks to **ruby_caspar for the inspiration. Guys, you're gonna miss half your life if you don't read her fics "Losing Balance" which inspired this fic. Oooh! And read "Cut Off" too! It's uber funny and I can so picture it out as an episode in the near S/P canon future ;)**

Thanks also to **babebubeboink99, fellow Pinay S/P fan, who continued to encourage me and sent me links for references on Chapter 16 (you know what I mean! Haha)**

Then of course, my two wonderful and diligent betas, **gemsile123** and **life_coveter** , for putting up with me and my grammatical errors, and for giving wonderful insights and advices which helped polish this material for easy and enjoyable reading. You know I love you guys, mwah!

And to you, dear readers and fellow S/P fans, thank you so much for your lovely comments, for following this fic, for joining me in this alternate universe joyride of Sheldon and Penny love. I would not have been able to finish this without you because hey! Seriously, I did this fic for you guys, and I hope you'll join me again someday, if I happen to come up with another fic. I've got a few bunnies looking up pleadingly at me right now, but I think I'll let my muse rest for a little while ;)

Season 3 is up, make sure to spread the internet buzz on our couple! Show the world our love for S/P!

And now, the ultimate question: Can you suggest any scene/s in the entire fic that would make for a good fanart? Go to the thread below! :D

Again guys, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! You're all just great and you make me go COLON CAPITAL D all the time! Thank you also for being there for me through my grief. Losing my dog, Axel, was a tough time for me but you were all there, ready with your condolences, the There There and the Soft Kitty. Seriously guys, in the words of Sheldon in this fic, I DON'T LOVE YOU! ^_^ Sheldon/Penny FOR THE WIN!


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